Saviors from Below
by EagleByte
Summary: Meet Josiah Douglass. His life couldn't be any more perfect, as he has a girlfriend and a great source of income. But one day, when the Octarians invade Inkopolis, taking it over, Josiah's life is turned upside-down. With nothing left to lose, Josiah launches a coup, hoping to overthrow the leaders and return his life to normal. Rated T for mild sexual content and swearing.
1. Prologue

Inkopolis Square was full of Inklings, all dancing to the latest tracks by Off the Hook, the latest Inkling pop sensation. It really was just another Splatfest, if you thought about it. The crowd featured two colors specifically: pink and green. This Splatfest's theme was squids vs. octos. This one was special because it was the 1st anniversary for Off the Hook's first Splatfest, which made it even better than others.

In the midst of the crowd was a mixed group of cephalopods. They, too, were enjoying the Fest, but on a different level. See, this was their first Fest together, as a group of friends.

The first in age was a (typically) yellow Inkling girl 17 years of age. Her name was Elaine, and she had tan skin with blue-green eyes. She was mild in temper, and was seen as the leader, probably due to the fact that she was the oldest, or maybe because she towered over everybody with her crazy height.

Second oldest was Keven, a shorter, more plump Inkling boy. He typically kept his tentacle hair a nice, light blue color, and his eyes were the deepest brown you'd ever see. His skin was also darker, but not too dark. He was more shy than your average Inkling.

Aileen was next in importance, or notability, rather than age. See, she was the only Octoling in the group. Her tentacle hair was pink normally (and currently was due to the Fest), and she had pale skin littered with freckles. She also wore glasses covering her deep green eyes. Oh, and she was 14 years old.

Josiah was extremely noticeable. His tentacle hair was a lime green, making him as much of a beacon as possible. He didn't care, though, and went on as if he didn't notice. His eyes were a deep blue-green, more recognizable than Elaine's, and his skin was slightly pale despite having a lot of sun within the past 15 years. He also harbored a secret crush on Aileen for as long as he could remember. One thing people knew about him was that if he was mad, you wouldn't know 'till it hit you.

Finally were twins Brianna and Benny. They had dark chocolate skin and orange tentacles. They were virtually identical, down to the tentacle haircut, despite having largely different personalities. They were both 13, being the youngest in the group (and Square, as Inklings most often gained the ability to turn into a kid form at the age of 14 rather than 13).

Off the Hook began performing their final number when the group decided they were about to leave. They quickly headed over to Crusty Sean's before he closed up shop before they left. Finally, they left the Square, and headed home.

"I can't believe it's already over!" Aileen expressed as they left the Square. "I was having too great of a time for it to be over already!"

"Aw, cheer up," Kevin commented. "There's always next Splatfest, ya know."

"Y'know, I'm more concerned about whether my team won or not," Josiah stated. "I mean, this would be, what, my 5th loss this year. I certainly don't want last year to repeat itself."

"Hah!" Aileen snorted. "You only wish it was your team! _My_ team's gonna win!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah! I'll even bet on it! If I win, you buy me dinner at any restaurant I choose."

"If you do the same for me if I win, then it's a deal!"

"Deal!"

Aileen and Josiah shook on it. The group was quiet for a few minutes.

"Hey, I got the new Super Splat Bros. the other day," Kevin said. "You guys wanna come over and play? This entry, we can do 8-players on any stage we want!"

"This is the one for the Splatendo Swap, right?" Brianna questioned.

"Yeah, that one." Kevin replied.

"Shell yeah! I've been waiting to try it ever since that amazing reveal!" Brianna said enthusiastically. "I have the money to buy it, but the guy at the store said I wasn't 'fresh enough' to enter."

"Well, see y'all tomorrow. 10 AM work for you guys?" Kevin asked.

The group unanimously agreed and split up, for the most part. Elaine went her own way, Kevin another, Brianna and Benny a third, and Aileen and Josiah a fourth.

"I'm so glad that I'm welcome in this group," Aileen said while the two slowly sauntered down the street. "Thanks for introducing me, Josiah."

"Oh, no problem. I remember when I first met all those years ago, I loudly asked why your eyes were so different than mine. I didn't know that your slight genetic differences like that would make it so hard for you to find friends, ya know? Crazy how people still hold grudges like that over something that happened at least 100 years ago. Glad you finally fit in somewhere."

"Josiah…do you think…well…"

"What?"

"Well…I've been thinking lately…"

"C'mon, you can tell me."

"Well…would it be okay if you and I were in a relationship…" Aileen trailed off.

Josiah stepped back, shocked.

"Oh…I was hoping your reaction would be different." Aileen quietly said. "I-"

"No, my reaction has nothing to do with our differences. I've been thinking that exact thing for as long as I can remember!"

"R-really?"

"Yeah! I was hoping sooner or later, you'd figure out or I'd muster up the courage to ask you on a date."

"Wow. Had no clue you liked me back."

"Well…we should probably go on a date to get things started, even though we've known each other for most of our lives. I was going to go shopping for some games tomorrow. I know it's not much, but perhaps you could come along. I know how much you like Super Mussel, and you still haven't played Super Mussel Odyssey for some reason. Perhaps we could get you your own Swap to play it on."

"Really? Oh, that would be awesome!" Aileen quickly hugged Josiah.

Eventually, they reached their houses, which were conveniently right next to each other.

"Well…" Josiah started. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow…girlfriend."

"That sounds nice…boyfriend." Aileen threw it back at Josiah.

The two of them entered their houses for the night.

* * *

Josiah woke some time in the night to a loud sound from outside. He looked out his bedroom window, which looked out on the street, and he didn't see anything. He then heard faint helicopter noises far off in the distance. The weird thing was that even the Inkopolis police department didn't fly helicopters this late at night. He raced outside to see if he could get a better look or even hear it better. A few moments later, after the sound grew louder, Aileen rushed outside, too, looking up at the sky.

"You heard it, too?" she asked.

Josiah nodded his head, eyes focused on the dark night sky above. Off in the distance, probably 2 to 3 miles away, there was a helicopter, which seemed to grow closer. After a few minutes, it was there, and stopped nearly directly overhead, about 200 feet in the air. Josiah strained his neck to see if he could see any markings on it. More and more people on his street rushed out of their homes.

A few seconds after the helicopter stopped, a bright spotlight shone down on him and Aileen. Then, if shut off, only being on for a few seconds.

Josiah turned towards Aileen, and right as he was reaching for her with his hand, he heard a shot from somewhere above, and felt instant pain in his right arm. He heard Aileen gasp, and looked down. His arm from his elbow down was gone. His stump was dripping green ink on the ground. He suddenly felt extremely light-headed, and collapsed on the ground. All around him, people were running like madmen, trampling anybody in their path, attempting to get to safety. He looked up into Aileen's face just when a dark figure appeared behind her. He tried to warn her, but couldn't get out the words. The figure slapped a hand over her mouth and put her in a headlock.

"You will come with me with no resistance and your friend lives. Understand?" the man said. Aileen nodded.

The man grabbed a rope that seemingly appeared out of nowhere and the two of them were pulled up out of sight. The helicopter flew away, leaving Josiah alone in his slowly growing puddle of ink.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hey, guys! This is my first ever fanfiction, so any and all constructive criticism is extremely helpful. I've been a Splatoon fan for well over a year at this point, and have enjoyed seeing other fans work on their own creations. Now, this story is by no means cannon. There are cannonical characters, sure, but the story is not cannon.

Thanks for the time reading this bit. I'm going to attempt to update every Sunday, but since I'm getting close to some finals in school, this may not work out for the first few weeks.

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying this so far as much as I am writing it! I've been tossing this idea around in my head for a few months now, so I'm glad it's finally down!

Again, thanks! If any of you would like, I am looking for a cover for this fanfict. If you're willing, I'd love for any reader to make me one. I will most certainly credit you, don't worry about that.


	2. Chapter 1: Taken

**Chapter 1: Taken**

 **Josiah**

You really don't realize how valuable something is in your life until you lose it for any amount of time. This could be anything, really, ranging from extremely invaluable to really valuable. Here's what I mean: let's say that your parents take away your phone for a while because you're on it too often. Do you realize how much time you really spend on it then? I most certainly did. Now, let's put that up a large amount on the importance scale. Let's say that you lose something extremely important, like, oh, I don't know...your girlfriend. She either just up and leaves you or moves away or something like that. You realize just how much time you spent with her or how much you liked her (this applies to a crush, too). That's my life, only my girlfriend didn't leave me. Rather, she was stolen.

My life has fallen to pieces. Of course, every other Inkling in Inkopolis would say the same currently. See, let me go back and explain what happened.

It all started on Splatfest Day. That's what we call the day that Inkopolis as we knew it, along with Inkling culture, was brought to a close. I would say no more than three hours after the Squids vs. Octos Splatfest was over, our city was attacked by the Octarians, who I really do NOT want to get started on right now. I'll save that rant for later. So, long story short is, they first went around the entire city rounding up any Octolings that left the Octarian army for a better life in Inkopolis. Apparently, they didn't like deserters. Next, they used them and quickly brainwashed them. I'm not entirely sure how they did it, but I do know that the Octolings had these dark shades on over their eyes with the right eye glowing red. I think it may have something to do with that.

With the army of Octolings, they scrounged around the city, confiscating any weapons they could find. They took them to their leader, who is unknown to us at this time. My friend, Kevin, told me that a TV broadcast was put out where somebody with a slightly modified voice told us the new rules that we had to follow:

Be in your house by 9:00 at night. No later, or you'll be arrested, I think. The person on the TV never said what would happen to you, but I sure don't want to find out.

No weapons of any kind are allowed. This makes perfect sense: they don't want their people to be able to rise up against them with weapons. I mean, if I were taking over a city, I'd certainly want every weapon in my or my army's possession.

No Turf Wars. This is self explanatory, too: no weapons, no Turf Wars. Simple enough.

No Inkling music. This included Off the Hook, especially, since we found out that Marina was a deserter. Go figure.

Finally, no electricity. They took our Great Zapfish and all the little zapfish and now the Octarians are using them for cod knows what.

Oh, and where was I during all of this? I was sitting there, in the middle of my street, loosing ink fast. See, when I got home after the Splatfest, I went to bed, but woke up some time later to the sound of a helicopter in the distance. This was extremely unusual, as Inkopolis helicopters most certainly didn't run at that time of day over in the housing areas of the city. As soon as I went outside to get a better look, my neighbour and girlfriend, Aileen, wandered out, too. She's an Octoling, by the way. Eventually, the helicopter made it to our street, and shined a bright light down on Aileen. The light turned off, and I was reaching towards her to send her inside her house when I hear a shot from above. It was very faint, and I didn't have any time to react. Pain shot up my right arm, and looking down, I saw that I had no forearm past the elbow. Instead, there was a lime green stump dripping ink on the ground. I looked up at Aileen, who had a hand over her mouth, trying not to scream, and I collapsed. I looked up, and saw a dark figure lurking behind Aileen. I tried my best to warn her that someone was behind her, but no sound came out of my mouth. A gun that looked similar to a Splattershot was aimed at her head.

"Don't resist," a voice said. "And your boyfriend lives." Aileen slowly nodded, and the figure wrapped a rope around her waist, and jerked down on it. She immediately ascended into the helicopter above, and then the rope was lowered once more. The man figure grabbed on and disappeared into the helicopter. It flew away, and I was left alone on the street to die. I was certainly inked off at this, but couldn't do anything in my current state. I was too weak to even speak, let alone move. So I laid there, wondering how long it would take me to die.

A few hours past, and I heard the faint noise of someone running. Straining to look up, I saw Kevin racing up to me. Well, he was trying, but since he's a little bigger than he should be, let's just say that it was more of a speed walk. He reached me, winded.

"What...happened...to...you?" he asked, gasping for breath in between each word.

"Jerk...shoot...arm..." That's all I could get out with how weak I was. Kevin looked down at my arm and squealed in shock from it, then looked extremely embarrassed about the squeak.

"Dude, you look like carp! Let's get you inside." He grabbed me by the armpits, looping his arms around me, and dragged me towards my house. You may be wondering, 'where the halibut were your parents during this?' to which I respond, 'my parents don't live with me. I live alone.' True story.

After what seemed like an eternity, I was inside on my couch, all bandaged up. Kevin was in the kitchen grabbing me something to drink and eat, as I needed something to keep me going. I certainly wasn't going to bed yet, as the wound hadn't stopped inking. Although, I do admit, there wasn't much pain in that area. I still felt like I had a complete arm, though, so that was really disorienting.

A few months later, even though the Octarians were under control of the area, I managed to get myself a replacement. It was robotic, and somehow connected to my brain, so I could operate the fingers on the prosthetic hand. The base of it was made out of metal, but to protect it, they covered it in some hard plastic that could change colour based on what colour your ink was. Right when they put it on me, it changed from white to lime green in a three-heart's beat.

I think that's enough backstory to get you caught up on the real events. So here we go. My name is Josiah Douglass, and this is my story of how I won back everything I ever loved.

" _Nasta!_ _Riva!_ _Heire!_ _Terakonide!"_ *

I slowly open my eyes, staring straight up at the ceiling in my dark room. I glance over to my nightstand, positioned directly to the right of my bed. My phone's screen is on, and my alarm is going off. I get up with a slight smile as I listen to my favourite song, _Ebb Flow_ , which also doubles as my alarm. I turn on my lamp, which is also sitting on the nightstand. I know, you already heard that there is no power. Now, I consider myself somewhat as a rebel, as you probably already could tell by my alarm choice. I have a few mini solar panels in my backyard that I can quickly hide if needed. During the day, they charge up my house, and that's what powers it. Sure, I could be in a lot of trouble if I get caught, but it's worth the risk to me.

I walk over to my bathroom, which is connected to my bedroom. I grab my phone on the way so I can keep listening to my music. I only listen to Inkling music, specifically Off the Hook and the Squid Sisters, but none of that Octarian garbage. Well, maybe a couple, but only because they're catchy. I look in the mirror, and see my normal, tired self looking back at me: pale face, dark rims around my blue-green eyes (which already have dark rings around them), lime green, messy tentacle hair, pale face, and a bit of acne. Not much I can do on the acne side of things (I've tried), but it doesn't bother me all that much.

I strip and hop in the shower, but not before putting in my waterproof earbuds. I like listening to music in the shower, but normal ones would break within the first few seconds.

"Yauna minasta minaozontoriju..."* I sing along to Into the Light, another Off the Hook song. Now, normally, I wouldn't sing in the shower. Honestly, you probably wouldn't ever catch me singing, unless it was a rare occasion. But, as do many other Inklings, I live alone. Currently, my parents live out in Calamari County rather than Inkopolis. I left there three years ago when I turned 14 to make some money in Turf Wars and eventually go to Inkblot Art Academy.

I hop out of the shower after a few minutes and rush to put on my clothes, consisting of a normal lime-green T-shirt, a pair of black headphones with lime-green accents, and a pair of Black Norimaki 750s which I modified to have lime-green soles rather than the blue and green gradient. As you can see, I do like myself some lime-green. Black makes a perfect base colour with lime-green making the perfect accent.

After getting dressed, I rush downstairs to the kitchen and make myself some breakfast. I check my watch and notice that I'm almost running late, so I hurry and finish as quickly as possible. I then rush back upstairs to grab my backpack and brush my teeth, and then I'm ready to go. However, on my way down the stairs, I slip and fall down roughly five steps, landing on my right arm. Gasping with pain, I slowly get up and inspect myself. Yep, I'm certainly bruised. But what really catches my eye is that my prosthetic arm now has a crack developing in the plastic casing. Sure, that's not a big deal, but if the components on the inside get exposed, then they could possibly be damaged by water or other wet substances, like ink. I grunt my disapproval, but don't have time to do anything about it, so I leave without taking care of it. Normally, I'd go up to my room and either fuse it together or use my computer (which I also managed to smuggle into my home and power) with a 3d printer and simply print a patch section.

I race down my street and eventually catch up to Kevin, who also appears to be running late today.

"Yo!" I say as I approach. He looks over his shoulder and sees me and waits a second for me to finish catching up.

"Hey, man," he says back. "Late again, I see?"

"Yeah," I respond. "So late in fact that I couldn't take the time to patch my pros. I cracked it falling down the stairs and didn't have time to even tell my computer to make a new case while I was at school."

"Wow, dude. That must suck." He examines the crack, which exposes a few of the metal components, along with a few wires. "That'll be needing fixing soon, I assume."

"Yep," I reply. "Not gonna risk damaging it. Remember what happened last time?"

"Oh, yea. That was bad. Not making the same mistake, I see."

"Totally."

We continue in walking to the train station where we'll board the metro to the school. It's crowded when we get there, which isn't a surprise, but today it's more crowded than usual. Most of the crowd consists of Octolings, though. They are all wearing a black suit of armor featuring a crop-top with metal overlaying parts of it, a pair of black shorts, a black belt, a black pair of boots, a black pair of finger-less gloves, and a pair of black sunglasses with the right eye glowing red. They're crowded around the metro station, and are all carrying varying weapons.

Kevin and I walk to the platform we normally get on. Out of the corner of my eye, I see an Octoling that looks oddly familiar. Looking closer, I realize why.

"Aileen!" I shout, running towards her. Kevin spins around confused, and follows after a second. I run up to her, and am about to give her a hug, when she smacks me down to the ground.

"Get away, disgusting Inkling!" she growls menacingly. I slowly get up, wincing from a bit of pain. The prosthetic arm is cracked even more now. I _really_ need to get that taken care of later.

"Hey, I'm not disgusting!" I retort.

"Yes, you are!" she spat back at me.

"Look, Aileen-"

"You have no right to call me by my first name!"

"Whatever. Look, we were friends. Don't you remember anything?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Now get out of here before I call the Elites."

"No, I'm not going anywhere. You must remember us. We were friends...better than friends! We were a couple for the shortest time. Then these Octo-jerks come and take you away from me, and me from you. Come with me, we'll continue where we left off."

She stood there for a few seconds. Eventually, she starts to tremble slightly. Kevin chose that moment to step in between us.

"Okay, looks like she doesn't remember." he says. "Let's go, Josiah." He grabs my arm and starts pulling me towards the train, which has now arrived. As the gap between us and the train gets smaller, Aileen stops trembling, and comes screaming towards us, baring an Octoshot that she seems to have gotten out of thin air. That's when we see the rest of the Octolings are following her. We hurry, but Kevin trips right as I arrive inside. The doors shut, and he looks up at me with fright in his eyes. Looking out, I see the Octolings closing in on him, and he has nowhere to go. I reach for the door's emergency button, but the train leaves the station before I have a chance.

I race to the back of the train only to see that the Octolings have put Kevin in cuffs and are now dragging him away towards a truck. They toss him in and the truck drives off towards the outskirts of town. I sit down, crying, not sure if it was from me seeing Aileen but her not wanting me, or if it was me seeing Kevin dragged down like that. And the worst part is that it was all my fault.

 **Author's Note:**

 _It appears that our hero has some troubles with his arm. We'll see if this will become a problem in the future..._

First off, thanks everyone for the views I got on the prologue. This is amazing for me, as I have never struck up the courage to post something like this online.

Second, thanks for reading this part if you made it all the way through. Please, leave a review, as it really helps me know how I'm doing as a writer.

yes, those are the real lyrics to the songs. If you don't believe me, go to and look up Splatune 2 and Octotune.


	3. Chapter 2: Three

**Chapter 2: Three**

 **Aileen**

Aileen slammed the back door to the truck that had just pulled up, almost immediately after the commotion the two Inkling boys made. She was disgusted with how the two thought that they, a pair of low-life ink sacs, thought that they could talk to her, a brilliant Octoling. And on a first-name basis, too! The nerve of those two…

She hopped into the front of the truck and pulled out of the station. Why their military let a 16-year-old drive a prisoner around, she'd never know. But she certainly wasn't complaining.

"Hey!" a voice shouted from the back of the truck. "What's going on? Where are you taking me? What did-"

"Keep it down back there!" Aileen shouted back, cutting him off.

"Aileen? Is that you?"

"I said to keep it down!"

"Look, Aileen, it's me, Kevin. Why are you doing this? I did nothing wrong!"

"Nothing wrong? Are you that dense? First, you fought us and took our land. Second, you forced us underground with no power. We had to work all that out on our own. And third, you interrupted one of our patrols after we took back what's rightfully ours. Do I need to go on?"

"Aileen, this isn't you. You're nicer than this. And if you're referring to the Great Turf War, that was over a hundred years ago. Some things you need to let go. And we aren't that different. Really, Inklings would've accepted Octolings into their community if you hadn't taken over the community. They would've noticed you're different, but thought that it was just a different hair style, or you were from a different region than they knew of. We didn't know what an Octoling looked like until you took over."

"I said shut up, and if you call me 'Aileen' one more time, I'll splat you personally."

The rest of the ride was silent. 'Thank goodness,' Aileen thought. 'I thought that he would never shut up.'

Eventually, they arrived on the outskirts of Inkopolis and pulled up to a warehouse. There was a perimeter fence around it with a guard shack you had to pass in order to get in. Aileen drove up to the gate.

"Ah, hello again, Agent Marso," the Octoling in the shack greeted Aileen. "Back again already, I see?"

"Yeah, crazy, isn't it, Carl? Caught another troublemaker disrupting a patrol. I'm getting tired of these guys. Can't we just force the Inklings out of the city?"

"I dunno, Agent Marso. I'm sure that we would've done that when we took over if it was probable."

"I guess you're right." The gate began to open, and Aileen began driving through. "See ya, Carl."

"Later!"

Aileen drove up to the actual warehouse where there was an open door. She backed the truck up to the door and hopped out. She walked to the back of the truck and opened the door. Kevin was there right on the other side, and jumped back with surprise at the door suddenly opening.

"Really, Kevin? You're scared by a door opening? You haven't changed a bit."

"So you DO remember!"

"I never said I didn't. Now, it probably would be best for you if the people inside don't know that you know me. Don't ask why. I'm telling you this because I don't like hurting more than necessary, as you probably know from experience." She slapped him hard on the back. "Now move."

Aileen escorted Kevin inside where there were multiple cells, each guarded by a young Octoling. They were not very high rank, but they did their job well. They came to an empty cell, and Aileen pushed Kevin inside. She slapped a large bracelet around his wrist and pushed a button on it, and it began glowing a purple color.

"What is this for? You know I don't wear jewelry."

"Ha, ha. It's to make sure you don't turn into your squid form and escape. Not that you'd make it far…"

"Hey, I can take care of myself!"

"Say that to Josiah."

"So you remember him too? Come on, Aileen, why are you doing this? You and Josiah were best of friends. You've known him pretty much your entire life."

"Yes, I am aware we were friends. But he wasn't a great boyfriend-"

"Boyfriend?"

"Yes, it happened on the night we took over. Anyway, he was never the greatest friend, so I have no need of him anymore. Speaking of which, I need to catch him. The Elites are gonna be pretty inked if I don't get him."

Aileen walked off, and the Octoling guarding Kevin's cell slammed the door. She drove off in the nominal direction that the train had been traveling. If she traveled in just the right way taking the right path, she'd manage to beat the train to the station that Inkblot was at, and in essence, beating Josiah there, too. She smiled to herself, realizing that she would have him in no time.

* * *

Eventually, about an hour later, she arrived at the station. She hopped out of the truck and walked up to the platform. Inklings scattered around her, attempting their best to avoid her. They could see she was already pretty high in rank, and didn't want to cause any trouble. She didn't mind.

The train pulled in approximately 5 minutes after she got there. A large mass of Inkling students walked off, most looking at their phones rather than paying attention to where they were walking. And it was just Aileen's luck that Josiah was one of them and slammed right into her, knocking both her and himself over.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Josiah started, not looking at who he ran into, but rather got up, than held out his hand to help her up. "I wasn't watching where I was go-"

He saw exactly who he bowled over, and instantly looked nervous. "Oh, cod. Uh, Aileen, hi. Sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to cause that big of a commotion, I just recognized you and, uh…uh…"

"Shut up," she said. Josiah instantly shut his mouth. "Whether you meant to or not, you still caused a commotion, and you'll be coming with me for that."

"But why? I didn't cause any long-term damage, did I?"

"Well, no, but-"

"See? No harm done, no need to take me with you, unless you're asking me out on a date."

"Okay, that's it. Come on, or I'll force you."

"Why not I just run?" Josiah began sprinting away, and got away before Aileen could grab him.

"Come back, you coward!" she shouted and began running after him. They ran up and down streets, making it quite a few blocks before either of them began to get winded. Aileen was surprised at how athletic Josiah was currently, as he wasn't very athletic before the take-over, but rather played video games a lot of the time.

She saw Josiah slip down an alley way ahead of her, and he had quite a head start, as she arrived there about 10 seconds later. She looked ahead, and saw that the alley stopped at a dead end not too far up. She didn't see Josiah anywhere, even looking all around.

'He couldn't've gotten far, could've he?' she thought to herself. 'There's nowhere for him to go.'

She looked for quite a while, but only saw a few dumpsters, a sewer grate, and a bit of trash. Nothing more, nothing less. She gave up, and walked back to her truck.

'Wow, the Elites are gonna be REALLY inked off now,' she thought again. 'First, he got away. Now, I lost him. I'm sure as halibut having a talk with them later, whether I want it or not.' She pushed the thought aside, and drove off in the direction of the other station.

* * *

After another decently long drive (Inkopolis is pretty big), Aileen arrived at the patrol.

"Agent Marso!" she heard a male Octoling call. She looked over and saw that it was her commander, one of the Elites. "Back again already?"

"Yes, sir. Turns out that the one who got away was better at hiding than I remember."

"Remember? You know that Inkling?"

"Yeah, we were friends a few years ago." She responded. Inside, though, she was freaking out., as she wasn't sure what they might do now that they knew that she was partially affiliated with an Inkling.

"Friends, huh? Well, you know what kind of people those Inklings are, right?"

"I do now, sir."

"Good. Well, we'll deal with him later. Right now, we're waiting for a train to take us to HQ. Turns out they just managed to capture one of the New Squidbeak Splatoon's members."

'The Squidbeak Splatoon?' Aileen thought. 'Those guys certainly are troublemakers. Can't wait to see them.'

The patrol stood there for maybe ten minutes before a train pulled in. This train was different, though, as it was mostly black with magenta highlights surrounding the doors and windows. Not only that, but it resembled a bullet train that the humans had thousands of years ago. It certainly looked different from the normal subway cars.

They filed on board, sitting in their seats. The train pulled out of the station, and after a few minutes of normal subway travel, they took a different path at a switch, taking them outside the city in a few moments. The train traveled at an incredible speed, making the trip a breeze.

After no more than a half hour of travel, they arrived. The group got off and walked up to the main building, which was a decently sized skyscraper. For some reason, they never moved their HQ from the underground world after taking over Inkopolis, but that was helpful for the people who worked there, as they didn't have to move any of their work to another office.

Aileen and the commander split off from the rest of the group, as he wanted it to be the two of them for the meeting with the Inkling Agent. They got in an elevator right after entering the building, and traveled further underground to the lower levels. After exiting the elevator, they walked down a few hallways, passing unmarked doors along the way. Eventually, they came to a different door which was marked "Containment Room 1," and entered. Inside was a male Inkling wearing a black, long sleeved shirt, a pair of black shorts, black boots, and a reflective yellow and white vest, resembling something a crossing guard would wear. He also had a pair of headphones on.

"Who are you?" Aileen demanded. He was silent. Aileen slammed her fist down on the table, startling him. "I said, who are you?!" This time, he looked up.

"3," he said, and looked back down. "That's all you need to know."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 _So, Aileen remembers them...but will she remember them as they really were? Or will she never return to the good friend she was before?_

Well, another chapter done! I gotta say, I'm really happy with how it's turned out. I know that it certainly isn't perfect, but I'm satisfied and pretty proud of the project. Stay tuned for more updates, and if you didn't already know, I updates on Sundays (and if not a Sunday, then a Monday)!


	4. Chapter 3: Discovery

**Chapter 3: Discovery**

 **Josiah**

Remember my little "episode" on the train back there after leaving the station? I'm going to take the moment now to say that it never happened. I am by no means weak, and will not tolerate anybody labeling me as such. Are we clear? Okay, good.

Anyways, I get up from the floor (again, never happened) and move over to the train's seats. It's like any other subway, where they're all facing each other sitting perpendicular to the walls. I pull out my phone and open up my Splatagram, hoping that maybe, there's something new. And I'm wrong. Ever since the takeover, nobody's been able to post, really. People have ways to charge their phones, but they never post, probably because they don't want to, or because they aren't sure if it's allowed. Instead, I pull up a game of Squid Jump. It's probably one of my favorite games, and I'm really glad that Ancho-V made a port to mobile for sure.

The train stops at a few stations along the way, making the train a little more crowded. I look around and see people either reading the newspaper or talking with friends, making me the only one alone. It's around this time that I wish that Kevin were still here with me at this moment rather than wherever he is currently. I sigh, thinking again that it was my fault that he got captured. Even though I blame myself, I know inside that there really wasn't anything I could've done except for leaving Aileen alone. That kinda makes me inked off, that I had to go and do something so stupid like that.

Finally, the train arrives at my station. I hop up out of my seat a few moments before the train stops to go stand by the door. I look outside and see Inkblot Art Academy, which is where I go to school. I notice many, many Inklings walking around on campus, and see quite a few Octoling patrols walking around, too. These patrols sometimes annoy me, because they'll walk into a class at any given time and disrupt it to make sure that the teacher is teaching what they're ordered to. If the teachers are teaching about rebellion, trying to encourage it, they'll be taken away and probably never be seen again. I don't know where they go, and I certainly don't want to find out.

The train stops at the station, and I get off with the rest of the students. I'm still looking at my phone, and so are quite a few people. Because of this, I ram into somebody, bowling both them and me over.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I say, getting up without looking at who I knocked over. I brush myself off really quickly, then hold out my hand to help them up. "I wasn't watching where I was go-" I see who I knocked over: Aileen. "Oh, cod," I mutter under my breath. "Uh, Aileen, hi. Sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to cause that big of a commotion, I just recognized you and, uh…uh…"

"Shut up," she says sharply. "Whether you meant to or not, you caused a commotion, and you'll be coming with me for that."

"But why? I didn't cause any long-term damage, did I?"

"Well, no, but-"

"See? No harm done. No need for you to take me with you, unless you're asking me out on a date."

Aileen's face instantly turns red. 'Aw, carp,' I think, knowing at this moment, I'm pretty much screwed.

"Okay, that's it," Aileen says, looking like she's trying to stay calm. "Come on, or I'll force you."

I quickly glance backwards and see that the train is gone. So much for that escape. Looking around, I see a small gap between two crowds of Inklings heading towards the school. 'Bingo,' I think to myself, knowing I've got a way out.

"Why not I just run?" I say, and dodge around Aileen, sprinting towards the crowd.

"Come back, you coward!" I hear her shout. 'Not a chance, crazy girl,' I think. I weave in and out of the crowd, trying to lose her. Looking back, I see that she's still on my tail. So instead of going closer to the school, I instead take off towards the street. There, I cross right in front of a truck, eliciting a loud honk and a shout from the driver. I keep running, not caring what the driver thought. Running down the sidewalks is harder than you'd think, as you have to weave in and out of people, dodge people and lamp posts, and make sure that you don't slam into anybody, because that would kinda defeat the purpose of running: going fast. I glance back again and see that Aileen is struggling to keep up with the crowds even though she's an Octoling soldier and the people should technically be making way for her. It also helps that she's wearing a heavier outfit than I am, so that gives me a slight advantage.

After running down a few blocks, I see an alleyway ahead. I quickly turn down it, only to notice that it's a dead end. I look and don't see anything besides a dumpster, some trash, and a sewer grate. "Carp," I mutter aloud.

"Psst," I hear a voice whisper to me. I whip around, thinking it's Aileen, but there's nobody there. "Down here," the voice says, and look down to the sewer grate. Inside are two eyes looking up at me. "Yeah, that's right. Come down here. I see you want to escape, right? This is probably your only way out, and your best option at that."

"Who are you?" I demand.

"No time. Quick! Your pursuer is almost here!"

The eyes disappear and I think for a second. With no other choice, I quickly duck down inside the sewer grate and remain there, looking out just a tiny bit so I can make sure Aileen doesn't follow me. She runs into the alleyway, and looks around, trying to find me. She left a few seconds later, defeat and anger plastered on her face. I sigh in relief, and attempt to get out again. But before I manage to get anywhere, a hand grabs me and pulls me down the grate into the darkness.

The darkness is cold, and I can't feel anything besides the hand gripping my leg. I try to kick it off, but it has an iron grip and won't let go. I can't see anything, or tell which way is up or down. The sensation lasts a lifetime, it feels, but soon, I see a pinprick of light below me. It quickly grows bigger, and is eventually blinding, so I close my eyes. The next thing I know, I'm shooting through the air and land right on my backside. It knocks the air out of me, and I lay there a couple seconds, catching my breath. I do get up at one point, though, and look around. I see a small shack that seems pretty dilapidated, so I'm going to avoid that. There are a few trees, some grass growing up in various places, and some cement starting to the left of the shack. I look up and see a bunch of floating cement blocks, and that shocks me.

"Hello?" I say, walking towards the cement pads. I see a thing that looks like a tea kettle sitting on a little pillow there on the pad. "Is anybody here?"

I hear a rustling behind me, and whip. There is an old man standing there, wearing a strange green jacket with a few medals pinned on it, along with a green hat, and finally, a pair of black headphones hanging on his neck.

"Ah, hello, youngster!" he says. "Sorry about being rough on ya back there."

I stand silent, stunned. The old man standing before me is none other than Cap'n Cuttlefish, one of the heroes during the Great Turf War around a hundred years ago. The only reason I know this is because before the takeover, I learned about him in school. Now, they don't even acknowledge his existence, or if they do, they certainly don't get away with it.

"As you already know," he begins. "The Octarians took over our beloved Inkopolis. I actually helped fend off a possible attack around four years ago, and that helped spark their interest in taking over the city. I'm part of the legendary New Squidbeak Splatoon, which consists of five agents, plus myself. Unfortunately, we were unable to stop this attack. I've been looking for some young 'uns like you to help rebel against them and put a stop to their tyrannical reign. Now, with this information, are you in?"

I still have no words to say, whether it be because Cap'n Cuttlefish is standing before me or if he practically spoke my mind there.

"Great, another untalkative agent," he mutters. "Uh, I'll take your stunned silence as a yes! From now on, you'll be known as Agent, uh...what's your name?"

"J-Josiah Douglass," I respond reluctantly, still in awe.

"Ah, Josiah! Then you'll be known as Agent J. Welcome to the New Squidbeak Splatoon!" He walks closer and shakes my hand. "Oh, how rude of me!" he apologizes. "I haven't even told you my name yet! I'm-"

"Cap'n Cuttlefish," I cut him off. "I learned about you in school! You're incredible! I've looked up to you for quite a while!"

"Oh, you do? How nice! Anyways, I'll introduce you to the other agents if you don't mind."

"Uh, sorry, but I have school I need to get to," I look down at my watch. "Well, splat that, I'm already late enough as it is that I wouldn't make it in time. Okay, show me the others."

We walk back over to the sewer grate we came out of moments before. He gets in first and pulls me with him. The darkness surrounds me again, and I shudder. We emerge in another empty alleyway, but this one's different from the one I entered through. There are some doors on the buildings around us, each bearing no significant marking. They each have numbers, though, and we knock on door 217.

"What's the password?!" a shrill voice on the other side demands.

"Password?" Cuttlefish asks. "There is no password." He then mutters, "Kids these days…"

"Uh, there is now!" the voice replies. We hear a little scuffle on the other side of the door.

"Pearl, just let them in," another, deeper, yet still feminine, voice says.

"Ugh, fine," Pearl responds. The door opens, revealing darkness. We enter and the door shuts behind us, leaving us with no light. I pull out my phone and turn on a flashlight, revealing Pearl and Marina from Off the Hook, standing there in front of us. They turn on a light and the room is illuminated instantly. It's pretty empty, except for a few small crates and a couple ink canisters. The door to the street out front is boarded up, and so are the windows.

"Hey, Cap'n!" Pearl says. "Who's this with ya?"

"Oh, this is Agent J. J, I'm sure you know who these are, right?"

I nod, stunned yet again. Who would've thought that Cap'n Cuttlefish was also working with two pop stars?

"Nice to meet you, Agent J," Marina says.

Pearl then grabs my hand and yanks me violently towards a door recessed in the wall to our left.

"C'mon, this way!" she says enthusiastically.

We go through the door and down a staircase, which is dimly lit and quite long, to be honest. At the bottom is a door with a little keypad. Marina scoots up in the front of the line and punches in a code (28-05-15) and the door slides open with a hiss. On the other side of the door is a hallway, lit only by a couple lights spaced around 10 feet apart. We walk down the hallway, which has no significant markings on the wall. There are a few portraits of Inklings and a couple maps of certain Turf War stages, but other than that, there really isn't anything.

We come to the end of the hallway, and Marina bends down, inserting her finger in a small hole in the floor. She lifts up, and a part of the floor comes with it, revealing a ladder. She climbs down the ladder first, followed by Pearl, Cuttlefish, and finally, me. We reach the bottom, and Marina turns on a lightswitch situated right by the ladder for convenience. The room we're in is instantly bathed in white light. And it's pretty big.

The right and left walls are both covered with racks holding various weapon types, each type divided by a small barrier. There's plenty of chargers, a few rollers, and an abundance of shooters. The wall that has the ladder features many, many bombs, with the majority being splat bombs and sprinklers. The wall opposite of the ladder wall has ink canisters and special cans. Directly in the middle of the room is a large oval table with a plethora of chairs.

"Agent J," Cuttlefish says. "Welcome to the New Squidbeak Splatoon HQ. Please, have a seat," he finishes, motioning towards the chairs. I sit in one, and instantly sink into its soft seat. It's probably the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in. Better yet, the chair was white before I sat in it, and it instantly becomes lime green, matching my color perfectly. Must've been built with the same technology as my arm's plastic casing.

Cuttlefish sits in a chair, and it turns orange. Pearl's chair and Marina's chair turn pink and teal, respectively. I hear a clamoring down the ladder, and three more girls appear.

The first wears a pink sweater-looking shirt, a pink beanie cap with a star pinned on it, and a pair of sunglasses, despite the fact that we're in an underground room with dim lighting to reach it. The second is wearing a green shirt, a surgeon's mask, and a green cap. The third has no special markings, but is wearing a yellow jacket with a hood and reflective stripes, a pair of normal black shorts with a yellow stripe down the side, and a pair of black boots with orange highlights. Every girl has a headset on.

"Hey, guys!" the pink girl says, taking a seat. Her chair turns pink instantly. The green girl sits down, turing her chair green, and the third girl sits, turning her chair yellow.

Cuttlefish turns to me. "Agent J, I'd like you to meet Agent 1, Agent 2, and Agent 4." He points at the pink girl, green girl, and then the yellow girl, respectively.

"C'mon, gr - I mean, Cap'n," Agent 1 whines. "Can't we tell him who we really are? I hate being called Agent 1. It doesn't sound right!"

Cuttlefish sighs. "I don't see why not," he says slowly.

Agent 1 takes off the hat and sunglasses, and I nearly fall out of my chair.

"C-Callie?" I stutter. Yep, that's right. You heard me right. Agent 1 is Callie. "So that means-" I look over at Agent 2, who took off her mask and hat, revealing Marie. I'm going crazy inside. Not only was Cuttlefish working with Off the Hook, but he's also working with the Squid Sisters.

"Yep, the one and only!" Callie says energetically. Both her and Marie stand up and do their signature pose. I sit there in shock, taking in all that's happened today.

I hear another person coming down the ladder. 'Another surprise?' I think.

"Sorry I'm late," a voice says behind me after the noise from the ladder stops. I turn around and see an Octoling girl standing there, wearing a black leather crop-top with a long sleeve while the other is missing, a black mini-skirt, a black belt on her left thigh, and a pair of black boots with heels. She's different from other Octolings, though, in that her eyes have black markings around them rather than purple and one ear is pointed, like an Inkling, while the other is rounded, like an Octoling.

"You're working with an Octoling?!" I shout at Cuttlefish. He throws his arms up defensively.

"What do you mean by that?" the Octoling asks me with a slight bit of anger in her tone.

"I mean that you're a fishing Octoling!" I swear. "You know, the people who took over?" I finish sarcastically, putting as much effort into the sarcasm as I can, which comes easily.

"Look, I don't like Octolings any more than you do. I have a pretty bad history with them. You have no idea what I went through to get where I am today." Fire is burning in her eyes.

"Why should I believe you? For all I know, you could be a spy!"

"Like I said, I don't like my kind either. Inkopolis is my home and I don't like the Octarian presence here in any way. For all I care, they could go splat themselves. I have no affiliation with them."

"That's not enough proo-"

"Agent 8, Agent J, that is enough!" Cuttlefish says sternly while slamming his staff into the floor. Agent 8, as the Octoling is called, takes a step back in surprise. I guess she's never seen Cuttlefish mad before.

"Kids these days," Cuttlefish mutters. "Agent 8, please sit," he says while motioning towards a chair, which turns pink as she sits. "Looks like you two didn't get off on the right foot. Agent J, meet Agent 8. She is an Octoling, yes, but is different from the others. Two years ago, she woke up with no memories in an underground test facility." Agent 8 shudders, along with Marina. "She had to fight Octolings to get out. I trust her; any fan of the Inkantation is a friend of mine, and I mean that with all my hearts. I don't see species, and I don't want you seeing species, either. Do I make myself clear?" I nod in agreement. "Good. Also, Marina is an Octoling, and she can be trusted, as you already know."

"You know, I heard about that. What's the story on her, anyway? Like, how did she manage to become what she is today?"

"She came to the surface around 5 years ago," Pearl interjected. "She followed me around on Mount Nantai for a few days, and I thought she was a stalker, or some crazy thing like that. One day, though, I heard her singing, and she instantly insisted we start a band." Pearl pulls out a little cassette tape player and sticks a tape inside. Where she procured them, I don't know. "She also made this on a broken keyboard. She has some amazing talent!" Pearl presses the play button, and music fills the room. I listen in awe. The song playing is 'Ebb & Flow,' one of my favorites, but it's different, as it's only the chorus sung by Marina, accompanied by a synthesizer filling in the parts that Pearl would later fill. The song ends after around 40 seconds.

"Wow," I say after a while. "That's amazing, Marina! No wonder you two worked out so well together!"

"T-thanks," Marina says.

"Hey, you wanna hear _my_ single?" Pearl asks.

Marina's eyes go wide. Like, _really_ wide. "Um, Pearl, I don't think now is the right time for that," she says nervously, obviously trying to avoid something.

"Oh, alright," Pearl says, putting the cassette player away.

"Wait a minute," I say, realizing something. "Cap'n, you have Agents 1, 2, 4, and 8. Where's 3, 5, 6, and 7?"

"Oho, you saw through it! You remind me of myself when I was younger. We don't have an Agent 5, 6, or 7. But unfortunately, Agent 3 is...well...how do I put this lightly? Agent 3 is…"

"Missing," Callie finishes.

"WHAT?!" I say, falling out of my chair this time.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 _Well, this has been one crazy day for Josiah. We'll see how he handles the Agent life in a few chapters._

Hey, guys! Another chapter done, and I will say, I think that this is my best yet. I'm not trying to gloat or anything, but I feel that I've put much more effort into this one than I have the others. The reason why is because I read some of a fanfict by ChiggerD (specifically "The Legacy of Humanity") and I realized that I could totally work harder on my book. So, that's what I did! Hope you enjoyed reading this one as much as I did making it! And I now have a pre-reviewer (my brother), so you'll be receiving the better of my work as often as I can make it happen.


	5. Chapter 4: Family

**Chapter 4: Family**

 **Aileen**

Aileen walked down the hallway within the basement of the Octarian HQ deep below the surface. Down here, there was hardly anybody, and it was dimly lit, giving the hallways an eerie feeling. Aileen had to admit, she never really was one to enjoy this kinda environment. But what choice did she have?

She walked up to the door holding the boy identified as 'Three', and hesitated a second.

'Am I really able to do this?' she asked herself. 'What if he doesn't give up any information? Then what? I've never really enjoyed hurting people before. Ugh, it's not like I have much of a choice.' She swore under her breath and opened the door.

The room was dimly lit as well, simply yet effectively by a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. The entire room was painted black, even the chair and table. In the chair was Three, who was looking down at his lap.

"Alright," Aileen said. "This is your last chance to tell me what I want to know. Who sent you? Who are you working for?" Three was quiet. Aileen's temper got the best of her, and she slammed her fist down hard on the table. Maybe a little to hard, she realized, as it throbbed the rest of the conversation. "I said, who are you working for?" she asked again.

Three looked up, defiance in his eyes. "Like hell I'd tell you," he spat. "You guys squidnaped me, then tortured me for a few days, and you expect me to give you your precious information like we were best buds? I don't think so."

Aileen sighed. "Well, you never gave us the information in the first place. I didn't want to do this, but you brought it on yourself." She pulled out a radio from her belt. "Commander, he isn't talking," she said. "Am I free to commence the Operation?"

After a slight bit of crackling, a tinny voice comes through her end. "Confirmed, Agent Marso. Commence the Operation."

Aileen pulled out a pair of glasses. "I'm sure you're not gonna cooperate, but if you will, please put these on or I will have to force you. Either way, you're gonna wear then whether you like it or not." Three just looked at her in the face, silent again. "You leave me no choice," she sighed. Aileen grabbed her Octoshot that was strapped on her back and hit Three on the back of the head with it. He slumped over, unconscious. Aileen then puts the glasses on him. "You brought this on yourself," she repeated.

"Commander, the Operation is complete," Aileen put the radio down on the table.

"Good," the tinny voice replied. "I'll be down in a minute."

Aileen sighed. At least the process was over. She fingered the glasses on her face, just like the pair that she just stuck on Three. 'I wonder, if I were to take these off-' her thoughts were cut off by the door opening. She quickly removed her hand from her glasses, and turned around. It was the commander.

"Ah, Agent Marso," he said as soon as his eyes were upon her. "You claim the Operation is complete. Care to demonstrate?"

"Sir, yes sir!" Aileen said with a sharp salute. She grabbed the radio on the table and twisted the channel dial from 2 to 12. "Get up, soldier!" She commanded. Three stood up instantly. "Good," Aileen said. "Now, go get me a coffee!"

Three walked out of the room, Aileen and her commander in tow. Three instinctively went to the break room and grabbed a cup of coffee for Aileen, handing it to her when he was done. Aileen took a sip. 'Wow, I needed this,' she thought, then returned to the radio.

"Return to your chair, soldier!" she commanded again, and Three returned to the holding room, sitting in his chair.

"Well done, Agent Marso," the commander said. "Now, the radio is only temporary until we get a more permanent communication solution, correct?"

"Yes, sir. That shouldn't take too long, though."

"Sounds good. You've earned yourself a week off. Go, enjoy it."

"Really, Commander?" The Commander nodded. "Thank you, sir!" Aileen saluted again, and walked out of the room.

The car door slammed, and Aileen thanked the taxi driver as he drove off. She looked up at her house, which was exactly the same as each time she returned. She hadn't slept in her home in a few months, so returning was refreshing. She walked into her room, and fell on the bed. "Aaaahhh," she sighed, and the stress from the last few months instantly melted away in the comfort of the mattress. Her house was much, _much_ more comfortable than the Octarian army barracks. Without realizing it, she drifted off to sleep...

Aileen awoke, looking up at the ceiling. She quickly glanced outside, releived to see that it was still light out, meaning that she had at least some time to get some food. Since she hadn't been in her home for a few months, she had no food in her kitchen, so she needed something.

Leaving the glasses on, she put on some civilian clothes, consisting of a normal white tee-shirt and a pair of black flip-flops. It was late summer, meaning that it was exceptionaly hot outside, so she chose something that would keep her cool. Especially at this time of night.

She began walking towards the MakoMart, hoping to get there before it closed. Even though she was exempt from the 9:00 curfew, she still attempted to make it home on time whenever she could, since she didn't like being one of the only ones out. It just felt uncomfortable.

The MakoMart wasn't very crowded when she got there, and glancing at her watch, revealing it to be around 7, she wasn't surprised. Everybody was either on their way home or already there, making sure that they didn't lose track of time and end up being outside after curfew. That, she knew, wouldn't end up in their favor. The warehouse that she took Kevin to earlier that day held many Inklings who were caught outside after the curfew, whether it be on purpose or accident.

As Aileen was walking down the canned goods aisle (she was trying to get food that would actually last this time), she bumped into somebody.

"Oh, sorry," she said quickly. 'Been bumping into everyone today,' she thought. Looking up, she recognized the person she crashed into. "Shana? Is that you?" she asked, recognition sparking in her face.

"Aileen?" Shana replied. They both smiled wide, and gave each other a hug. "Haven't seen you in a while," Shana said. Shana was originally Aileen's commander, but then later transitioned to a different regiment, with Aileen's current commander replacing her. Aileen and Shana turned out to be great friends, though, and visited each other frequently back when they were working together. Since then, Shana had become a more important person, and made much bigger choices within the army. She was the second-in-command within the entire army, which made her very important. With a kind face and skinny frame, she didn't really look like much, but anybody who thought that way was corrected pretty quickly after being under her command for no more than a week.

"Cod, it's been, what, six months or so?" Aileen thought.

"Don't ask me, I can't remember."

"Oh, well. Say, what have you been up to recently?"

"Not much, really. I have risen in rank a bit, and make bigger choices on what the army's going to do."

"Really? That's cool."

"How 'bout you? Have you been doing anything recently of note?"

"Not that I can think of-" Aileen suddenly remembered Three. "Actually, there was this one rogue Inkling we captured. He was spying on us, and we ended up putting the glasses on him. Never figured out who he worked for."

"What did he look like?" Shana asked.

"Oh, pale skin, black eyes, and yellow-green tentacles. Didn't really look that tough, either."

"Did he say his name?"

"He said that he was simply called 'Three,' and that he wasn't going to tell us more."

Shana gaped. "Three? Are you sure you heard him right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Around five years ago, I was a lowly Elite. When DJ Octavio took the Great Zapfish from Inkopolis, an agent and old Cap'n Cuttlefish faught back. If I'm remembering correctly, the agent was called Three. Could it possibly be the same agent?"

"I don't know, I hadn't seen him until today."

"Well, I'll notify the General about this. I'm sure he'll want to know."

"Yeah, I'm sure he will. Do you know what he'll do?"

"No, but it probably won't be pretty." Shana looked down at her watch. "Oh, carp, I'd better be going," she said, waving good-bye and running off.

Aileen finished her shopping and left the store, wondering what the General could possibly do this late in the game to make their new city even more secure.

It was dark when she reached her house. She entered the home and turned on the light, quickly taking a step back.

"Surprise!" a collective shout was heard.

"Mom? Dad? What are you guys doing here?" Aileen asked in shock.

"Don't you remember? It's your birthday!" Her parents walked over to her from their hiding spot behind the couch. "Titus! Sage! You can come out now!" Two Octolings, one male and one female, came out from a cabinet under the TV.

"I haven't seen you guys in so long!" Aileen cried, and hugged the entire family. Titus, the youngest at 12, had pink tentacle hair, like Aileen, and a rounded face, but a slightly more tan complexion, being quite a bit darker than Aileen. Certainly not dark by any means, but just compared to her, he was substantially darker. Sage, the younger sister, was 14, and had pale skin, like Aileen. She liked to keep her tentacle hair a purple color. Her mom had slightly darker skin, like Titus, and light blue tentacle hair. Her dad had pale skin, too, and orange tentacle hair.

"Did you really forget, sis?" Titus asked.

"Yeah, I actually did. Work's been keeping me so busy lately that I lose track of the date too fast.

"Well, we didn't forget," Mrs. Marso said with a smile, then headed off to the kitchen.

"Say, why don't you take of those glasses so we can see your face again?" Mr. Marso asked.

"Sorry, can't. Work protocol. I'm not supposed to take them off, even at home. Don't know why, just can't. Must be some communication system or some bullshark like that."

"Language!" Mrs. Marso called from the kitchen.

"Sorry! Work influence!"

A few moments later, a large cake was being set down on the table, surrounded by the Marso family.

"Oh, Aileen," Mr. Marso started. "Why not you invite Josiah over? I mean, I'm sure that he'd love to celebrate too."

Aileen hesitated a second. "Well, you see...um...he and I haven't been getting along lately." she lied. "I haven't seen him for a while, so I'm sure that he could care less."

"Really? Sorry to hear that."

"Hey, Titus has a girlfriend," Sage says with a smirk.

"I do not!" Titus interjected with a flash of annoyance.

"Yes you do!" Sage said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Not!" Titus returned the gesture.

"Kids, kids, that's enough," Mrs. Marso said, annoyance on her face, too. "It's your sisters's birthday, why not you save that for later?"

"Okay," the two sighed.

"Hey, I'm just curious," Aileen remarked. "If you're here this year, why didn't you come last year? Or why choose this year to come and celebrate and not next year?"

"Oh, we couldn't make it last year. Otherwise we would've." Mr. Marso said.

"Ah, I see."

Soon, they had cut into the cake, and each was enjoying their own large slice. The rest of the evening was quite enjoyable to say the least, and Aileen would remember this one as one of her best birthdays. Even though they didn't have gifts yet, it was still a very pleasant surprise and a nice break from her job in the army.

Soon, a knock was heard at the door. Aileen walked over to it and opened it up. Nobody was on the other side.

"Hello?" she called, looking around outside for a minute. "Anybody there?" She received no response.

As she was turning to go back inside, a small object caught her eye. There was a small box lying there on the doorstep. She picked it up and brought it back inside.

"Who was there?" Mrs. Marso asked as Aileen sat back down at the table.

"Nobody, but whoever it was left a box."

"Well, does it say anything?" Mr. Marso questioned.

Aileen looked the box over, and saw small handwriting on the bottom.

"It says...oh, wow."

"What?" Sage asked.

"It's from Josiah," Aileen said, stunned.

"Well, don't just sit there, open it!" Titus demanded.

Aileen slowly opened the package, revealing a small, handwritten note. She picked up the note without looking into the box.

"Dear Aileen," she read. "I'm terribly sorry about earlier today and that whole incident at the subway station. I really hope that I didn't cause too much trouble for you guys, and hope that we've let it pass for now. I do understand that you and the rest of the army isn't one to mess with, and I really am sorry about how that went down this morning, and how you chased me with no success, wasting your and the rest of your patrol's time. Please accept my apology. Oh, and happy birthday. Sincerely, Josiah."

Aileen put the letter down.

"Now that was interesting," Mr. Marso said. "What else is in there?"

Aileen looked inside the box. "No, you shouldn't have," she said to herself as she pulled out a beautiful necklace. The whole chain was silver, and at the end of it was a tiny octopus charm with pink pearls coloring the body. Aileen slowly put it on.

"Wow, sis. That looks pretty great on you!" Titus obviously liked the gift.

"That was awfully kind of him. Are you sure that you don't want to invite him over? I thought you said that things weren't going well between you two, but he at least seems to want to try again." Her mom looked at her from the other side of the table, curiosity plastered all over her face.

"Well...not really."

"Why not?"

"Because...oh, screw it. Because he's an Inkling. Okay? There's stuff going on right now between our races and I really don't want to get on the wrong side of the line."

Mrs. Marso looked a bit taken aback from Aileen's outburst.

"Wait...did you say…'army?'"

"Yeah, why?"

"And now there's racial tension going on?"

"Yeah."

"We've never heard of this."

"What? What do you mean you've never heard of it?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 _And now Three's been hypnotized, and the General knows that a rebellion has been sparked. This may not play out well in our hero's favor. And apparently, Aileen's parents have never heard of the goings-on in Inkopolis._

Whew, this one certainly had me on edge. I have the basic plot elements down in my head, and certain bits and pieces of the story complete, but I can't figure out how to fill it in. I certainly was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to and sadly would have to abandon the project until I had a solid timeline in my head and each chapter worked out to the max. Thankfuly, though, my brother helped a lot in getting me to this final form, so thanks, bro!

I took a slightly different spin at the end and intertwined a slight bit of backstory in, and don't worry, you will be learning more about the characters' past ( _foreshadowing_ ).

Again, thanks so much for reading, and I really hope that you thoroughly enjoyed this chapter. I know it's not perfect, probably by far the furthest from perfect it could possibly be, but I'm thinking that I can entertain a few people, so I'll keep at it, and expect some improvements in the future. And once I feel that I've got the hang of it, I'll begin redoing older, crappier chapters.


	6. Chapter 5: Plan

**Chapter 5: Plan**

 **Josiah**

I pick myself off the floor, wincing slightly, as I landed on my right arm kinda funny, pushing the plastic part into my back. I sit down and take a quick glance at the plastic shell of the arm and see yet another crack. 'I gotta get home and get that fixed,' I think.

"Yes, it is true," Cuttlefish says with a pained expression. "Agent 3 is missing. I blame myself, really. He was my agent, I should've kept a better eye on him."

"Aw, don't do that to yourself," Callie pipes in. "Everybody could've done a better job."

"But since Three is missing, there's only eight of us now," Marie says. "Even with Three, that's only nine agents. And to take out an entire army? I don't think that'll cut it."

Everybody looks down for a minute, thinking. "I have a few friends that may be interested in helping," I say after a long pause.

"How many, Bucko?" Cuttlefish inquires.

"Uh, four. Five if you include my Octoling friend." Eight's eyes narrow at this comment.

"Why do you trust your Octoling friend and not me?"

"First off, I just met you. Second, Aileen and I go back as far as I can remember. I just need some time to warm up to you, got it?"

"We're on the same damn team for crying out loud!"

"Agents, again, that's enough," Cuttlefish says sternly. "You two really need to learn to work together. I may even pair the two of yous together for a bit of training. Do I make myself clear?" We mumble our agreement, avoiding eye contact. "Kids these days, I swear," Cuttlefish mutters.

"So, why do you not count the Octoling in the basic count?" Marina asks, curious. "I mean, it would make sense, right?"

"Well, yeah, if she was on our side. Ever since Splatfest Day, she's been extremely different. She hates me to death, doesn't like Inklings, and works for the Octarian army. Not sure what happened, but Aileen's just...different now." I sigh, putting my head on the table.

"If I may ask, was she wearing anything specific when you last saw her?"

I look up, giving her the look that says 'really? That's what you want to know?' I answer anyway: "Yeah, she was wearing the standard Octarian army uniform, or whatever that garbage is."

"It's not gar-" Marina starts, slightly heated. She quickly recomposes herself. "Sorry about that. Was she wearing a specific pair of glasses?"

I think for a moment, since I'm used to her wearing glasses. "Uh, I think so. They were-"

"Black with red?" Marina finishes. I nod. "Just as I thought. I'm afraid to tell you this, but Octavio has, ahem, 'remixed her brain.'"

I look at her with another stupid look. "'Remixed her brain?' Really?"

Marina throws her arms up in defense. "Hey, I'm not the one who called it that! DJ Octavio coined the phrase first. Basically, she's hypnotized. That easier to understand?"

"Pff, I guess," I scoff, putting my head back down on the table.

"Hol'up, lemme get this straight," Pearl says. "You're tryna tell us that you got a girlfriend who's been hypnotized, right?"

"Yeah, I don't see-"

"And you think there's no way to get her out of it, right?"

"I didn't say that, but yeah, pretty much, I guess. But I still don't see-"

"But what if there was a way?"

"What?" I poke my head back up again. "Are you serious? I don't think you see how this feels to me, and now you're playing me as if we can get her back."

"But what if 'Reena could hack the glasses?" Pearl asks, throwing her hands in the air and leaning back in her chair, obviously proud of herself for making that comment.

Marina thinks for a moment. "You know, that just might work, Pearlie! If I could gain access to the database, I think it could be possible."

"Are you serious?" I ask, sitting up, excited.

"Yeah, if I could get close enough. By that, I mean in the same room, though. Unless I had a remote access transmitters, then I could extend the range. But I don't have one of those, so I'll see what I can do."

I pull out a necklace from my pocket. The chain's silver and on the end is a little pink octopus charm.

"I have this," I say. "Do you think that you could fit a transmitter inside it? I was gonna give this to Aileen since it's her birthday today, but if we put a transmitter in it, that'll be a great way to sneak it in."

Marina takes it and looks it over. "Yeah, I think I could do it." She gets up and walks over to one of the walls, pulling on a seemingly random Splattershot. The wall split right down the middle and opened up, revealing a wall with a door right in the middle. Marina punches in another code on it, supposedly different from the code on the other door, and it opens. On the other side is another dark room, instantly illuminated as Marina flips a light switch right on the other side of the door.

I get up from my chair and walk over to the room. Inside are quite a few tables, each with different things on them. One seems to have disassembled weapons while another has some computer components. That's where Marina sits down and instantly gets to work. After a couple moments, she looks up at me.

"You guys should probably come up with a plan," she says. "We're gonna need something pieced together for when I manage to break through the hypnotism."

I walk back to the table. "Guys, we need a plan," I say, sitting down.

"What do you have in mind?" Cuttlefish asks me.

"Me?" I ask, surprised.

"Yes, you. I knew when I saw you that you would be right for the job, so why not you take a try at a plan?"

"B-but I can hardly explain how to make a sandwich, let alone a full-blown plan." Pearl snickers. "Hey, I heard that!" I retort. I turn back to Cuttlefish. "You really think I can do this?"

"You can do it, lad. I believe in you." He smiles at me, which makes me think.

"Alright," I say, sighing. "I was thinking that the best way to get the glasses off of Aileen is for one or two of us to sneak into her room while she's asleep and remove them." Pearl gives me a perverted look. "Really, Pearl? Right now?"

"Yo, it sounded funny, k?"

I sigh again. "Whatever. Anyways, we'll be taking the entire team to my house when we're done here. There, I have a computer that Marina can use to bypass the glasses' security wall, allowing her to temporarily remove the program so we won't risk harming Aileen when the glasses are removed.

"The first step is to gain access to the transmitter. We'll hook it up to my computer one way or another. That will be done by Marina and possibly Callie."

"Why me?" Callie asks.

"You love video games, and this is kinda in that area of expertise." Callie nods. "Good. The second step is to get the necklace on Aileen. That shouldn't be too hard since it's her birthday. I'll simply stick it in a box with a letter on her porch. Pearl, you can run fast, correct?"

"Sure can!" She says, flashing a grin.

"Okay. So you'll drop the box on the porch, ring the doorbell, and run like hell. Sound good?"

"I can totally do that," she agrees.

"Alright. Finally, we'll wait until she's asleep. What we'll do then is take one person, probably Four, and we'll climb in through her window and take them off. From there, we'll get them the hell out of there so that she won't have access to them. Four and I will then climb out the window and return to the house. Sound good?"

Pearl is the first to speak up, perverted look still on her face. "How do we know that you won't try something...funny?" She demands.

I bury my face in my hands. "This again? Look, we may have been dating-"

"So she's your girlfriend, too? Oooo. This'll be fun."

"I didn't finish. No, I won't try anything 'funny.' Believe it or not, I actually have something you don't. It's called 'morals.' I can contain myself and save feelings like that for later."

"But-"

"Besides that, anybody else have an objection?"

Everybody shakes their head, making my plan, well, the plan.

"Good work, Agent J," Cuttlefish says, clapping me on the back. "I knew ya could do it."

A moment later, Marina walks back into the room. "All done," she says, holding up the necklace heroically. She then hands it to me.

"Wow," I exclaim, looking it over, trying to find the transmitter.. "It's so small that I can't even see it!"

"That's what she said!" Pearl shouts, the perverted smirk still on her face. She's not letting this go, is she? I stifle a slight snicker and turn around.

"Yeah, well you're one to talk," I jab back. The smirk is instantly gone, replaced by some expression I can only explain as anger and hurt all in one. And now I feel bad. Before the conversation can escalate, Cuttlefish clears his throat.

"Alright, Agents," he says when we look at him. "Get on your disguises and we'll head out momentarily." He turns to me next, a suit in his hands identical to what Four was wearing. "This is for you. You're now one of us," he says as he hands me the suit. "This is the Hero Suit. Wear it with pride. Of course, not right now, hehe. I would give you a weapon, but with the ban and all, I cannot today. But there's that."

"Thank you," I say, taking it. I stuff it in my backpack and sling it over my shoulder. The other Agents come out of the lab, which is where they changed. Each are wearing normal civilian clothes and won't be spotted easily. Except for Marina, that is. She wears a hoodie that covers her tentacles pretty well, but we'll have to be quick to minimize the risk of her getting recognized.

"Everybody ready?" the Cap'n asks, which results in nods.

"Heck yeah!" Pearl yells in acknowledgement.

"Sounds good. Agent J, would you lead us?"

"Y-yeah, I guess," I say, taking the lead. We exit the building the way we came in earlier.

"Well, follow me." I say. I lead them down the alley, and thankfully, I recognize the street. "Won't be but five blocks," I say, turning right on the road. We walk at a brisk pace, but not too fast so we don't draw attention to ourselves. Since it's almost curfew, we aren't alone in the mass of people moving towards the rural area of the city. This makes it much easier to travel.

* * *

I hate to say it, but the rest of the trip is uneventful. We walk up to my doorstep without anybody noticing a large mass of Inklings and Octolings moving together. I open the door. "Agents, I'd like to welcome you to my...carp." As the door opens, it reveals a dirty living room with books and papers strewn about. The kitchen, of course, isn't in much better shape, with dirty dishes filling the sink. "Sorry," I say. "I haven't had visitors in a while and didn't clean up last night...heh." I nervously rub the back of my head.

"It's fine, Josiah," Marina says. "You don't need to be embarrassed."

"Heh, guess you're right. Anyways, make yourself comfortable, as this is currently as much my home as it is yours. I'll work out sleeping arrangements later, but for now, stick your stuff on the livingroom floor with the crap load of papers sitting there." They do so, kicking plenty of them about. This is what happens when you're in high school and don't put away your homework for a few days. "Alright. Marina, Callie, would you follow me to my room? Please, don't be surprised if that's in a mess, too." The two follow me down the hallway and up the stairs. I walk into the room and sigh a sigh of relief, as there's not much there. I do put my clothes away, so there isn't much on the floor besides a few papers and my skateboard. "So, here's the computer," I say, logging on.

"Hmm," Marina says. "Not used to this operating system."

"What do you typically use?"

"Well, I have a KelpBook, so kelpOS. Probably should figure this out really quick."

"You said kelpOS?"

"Yeah, I did."

"I've actually got it on here, too," I say, rebooting the computer. This time, I hit a certain key on the keyboard, and it boots into kelpOS.

"Wow, never seen this run on non-Kelp hardware. How'd you do it?"

"Simple, really. Following a few guides online, I-"

"Uh, hate to stop you two, but shouldn't we work on the transmitter?" Callie looked at us with a smile on her face. "You two could probably talk about that later, right?"

After a pause, Marina speaks. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She sits down at the computer, opens the Terminal, and gets to work.

I leave the room, returning downstairs to see how the others are. They're sprawled out on the couch and in the chairs, looking bored after their mind. "You guys wanna watch TV?" I ask, picking up the remote.

"Nice try, Jay," Pearl says. "There's no power, that's why we're doing this, remember?"

"I'm one step ahead of you," I say, turning on the TV.

"What the- how?"

"Solar panels. Had them installed within my shingles. They're invisible to the naked eye, so the Octarians didn't notice."

"So I can turn on the lights to see better?"

"Yeah, sure. Just lemme check how much power I have in reserve." I walk into the kitchen and pop open a panel, revealing a small screen. I tap it, and it turns on, displaying a battery icon, not unlike what you would find on a phone. The reading shows a full charge. "Yep, you're good!" I shout back to the living room. The house is then illuminated. "Just let me close the curtains so people can't see inside," I say, walking around the house, shutting every curtain I come to. When that's done, I begin cleaning.

* * *

"All done!" I heard from the top of the stairs. Marina and Callie run down the stairs, racing into the kitchen. "It's all connected, so we're ready to go."

I pull out a box with a small letter inside and put the necklace inside with it. "Here, Pearl," I say, handing it to her. She takes it, runs outside, and drops it on Aileen's porch. She looks over at me, and I nod. She quickly pushes the doorbell and runs back inside our house, and we shut the door. "Now, we wait," I say, looking outside. The door to Aileen's house opens and she steps outside, looking confused. Not seeing anything, she picks up the box and goes back inside.

"Alright!" Four shouts, thrusting her fist in the air. "We're in!"

"Hey, don't get ahead of yourself," I say. "We gotta let her go to sleep first."

Marina then speaks up. "I built in a little heath monitor so we'll be able to know when she's asleep."

"You did?" I ask, running upstairs to the computer. Sure enough, there are three heart monitors on the screen.

"When every heart monitor is below this level," she points to the screen, indicating a level, "she's asleep."

"That was a good idea," I say. "Are you able to keep watch, or should I?"

"I can. I don't have anything else to do anyway."

"Sounds good."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 _With a plan in tact, the Agents seem to know what they're doing. But are Marina's hacking skills up to par with what they need to be?_

And again, here was a chapter I was on the fence with. I actually had to scrap everything after about two or three pages of work, and boy, did that not feel good. But here's this, and I hope it's decent.

Also, be expecting a few surprises. This includes some new characters and backstories on the side as one-shots, so keep a lookout for some of those. I'm going to be making the main story my priority, though, so there's no need for worry.


	7. Valentine's Day Special: Kevin's Date

**Valentine's Special: Kevin's Date**

 **Kevin**

 **Note:** this is not a canon story. Pretend that the Octarians never took over and life continued as it was. That's when this story takes place. Pretend that this is an alternate universe where Splatfest Day never happened. Okay? Okay.

* * *

The air was cold. Kevin Yanson walked down the street, heading for the Square. He was hoping to get a bit of turfing in before it started snowing, indicated by the forecast and the cloudy skies. Having just come off of a victory for Team Waffle, he wanted to get in a bit more practice before the next Splatfest, so maybe his team could do even better. There weren't many Inklings out, as the cold was almost forcing them inside. Lucky for Kevin, though, he lived in a pretty cold area for a year or two a couple years prior, so he didn't mind the cold.

On his way, he took a slight detour to Josiah's house, seeing if he would go with him. He knocked on the door to no avail.

"Hello?" he called, looking in the front window. "Are you home, Josiah?" Still no answer. 'Maybe Aileen's home,' he thought. He crossed the yard and knocked on her door. This time, Aileen answered, only opening the door a tiny bit and poking her head out, letting in as little cold air as possible.

"Oh, hey, Kevin," she said. "What brings you over here?"

"I was on my way to the Square and was wondering if you would like to come."

Aileen blushed slightly. "Uh, well, Josiah and I wanted some...well, uh… _personal_ time together, uh…"

Kevin smiled. "Heh, I understand. I'll find somebody else."

"Okay. See ya, Kevin!"

"Yep, bye!" Aileen shut the door and Kevin walked back towards the Square. 'Welp, that was a waste of my time,' he thought.

Eventually, he came to the Square, which had very few Inklings out and about, which was very rare. Kevin looked up at the sky and saw that the clouds were darker. 'Oh well,' he thought, heading into the tower. 'Might as well get as many battles in as I can.'

Right inside was a small room with a desk right in the middle. Behind it was a lady looking at a computer. She pushed her librarian-style glasses down, moving her face closer to the screen.

"Ahem," Kevin cleared his throat as he approached the desk. The lady looked up, pushing her glasses back into place.

"How may I help you?" she asked in a friendly voice.

"I was wanting to check into a lobby and get my gear out of my locker," Kevin said. The lady hit a few keys on the computer.

"Name?" she asked.

"Kevin Yanson," he said slowly.

"How's it spelled?"

"K-E-V-I-N Y-A-N-S-O-N." She hit a few more keys, typing in his name. She then reached under the desk and pulled out a card with a little QR code on it. She handed him the card, and Kevin took it.

"Alright," she said. "Have fun! Be aware that we may close down early due to inclimate weather, but by the looks of it, you should have at least an hour until that happens."

"Thanks," Kevin said, walking past the desk through a door marked with the symbol for boy, a head with a man-bun. The other door was marked by a head with the girl's style of hair.

On the other side of the door was a locker room. Kevin looked down at his card to remember his number. 'Ah, 216.' He walked to the locker and scanned the code on the little screen. The locker popped open, revealing his gear.

Kevin reached inside and grabbed his weapon of choice, a Kensa Splatterscope. He then grabbed his gear, consisting of an Anaki Mask, a Black Hoodie by Skalop, and a pair of Amber Sea Slug Hi-tops. He quickly changed out of his clothes into his gear and then headed out to the main lobby area.

The lobby was quite large. It was full of squares marked on the ground with two couches in each, one for each team. The squares were arranged in three sections: normal, ranked, and league. On the walls are many TVs, showing the highlights of current battles, although there really wasn't much going on at the current time.

Kevin headed over to one of the couches in the normal battle section. He found one square with five out of eight members, and chose it, making six.

"'Sup?" an Inkling boy said. He was wearing a Face Visor, a Chili-pepper Ski Jacket, and Black Seahorses. His hair was light blue, like Kevin's. He wielded a Forge Splattershot Pro.

"Hey," Kevin replied.

The boy shook his hand. "I'm Keystone Midas," he said.

"Kevin Yanson. Nice to meet you."

Keystone motioned to a girl sitting next to him. She had purple tentacle hair, and was wearing a pair of Ink-Guard Goggles, a Dark Bomber Jacket, and some Moist Ghillie Boots. In her arms was a Range Blaster. "This is my sister, Cosmo."

An Inkling boy with red hair on the couch across the square from them looked over.

"Howdy!" he said. He wore a Paisley Bandana around his neck, a Lumberjack Shirt, and a pair of Pro Trail Boots. His weapon was a Flingza Roller."The name's Eric Douglass," he said.

"Wait, Douglass? Is your brother Josiah?"

"Yep! Don't have a clue how ya knew that, but Josiah's my brother alright." Eric had a strange accent.

"Josiah's my friend. You don't sound like you're from Inkopolis, though."

"Yep, moved in from the County, oh, no more'n a week ago. I ain't one of them dudes that dress up like a cowboy, I _am_ a cowboy. Josiah never mentioned havin' a brother?"

"No, he didn't."

"Well that little uppish varmint...anyways, what's yer name?"

"Oh, uh, Kevin Yanson."

"Kevin, huh? Well, ya don't seem too bad for one of 'em city-slickers. I think we may be friends."

"Maybe. What's up with your tentacles? Why are they red?"

"Oh, them? I don't know, I thought everybody could make theirs red for the longest time. Guess I'm the only one. Say, I'd like ya to meet my friend, Marshall." He clapped the shoulder of a green boy sleeping next to him. The boy jolted awake.

"Huh? Wah? Where-" he looked around, startled. Eric started laughing. The boy wore a pair of Squidfin Hook Cans around his ears, a Shirt with a Blue Hoodie, and Toni Kensa Black Hi-Tops. He quickly picked up his Explosher and swung it around.

"Ya should'a seen yer face!" he said, doubling over.

"Ha, ha. What'd you do that for?"

"I woke ya 'cause our match will be startin' soon...hopefully."

"I hope so too."

"Kevin, this is Marshall. Marshall, this is Kevin."

"Oh, nice to meet you."

There was one other girl in their square at the moment. She was the only Octoling, wearing a pair of Octo Shades, Neo Octoling Armor, and Neo Octoling Boots. In her hands was an Octoshot Replica. Kevin thought she looked kinda cute, and tried to start up a conversation.

"Hey," he said. "Aren't you cold?" The temperature wasn't that warm and there she was hardly wearing any clothing.

"Uh, j-just a b-bit," she said. "I just d-don't have any other c-c-clothes that can be worn in T-turf Wars." She shivered.

He tossed her an offer: "If you want, I could buy you some warmer clothes after this match."

"W-what?"

"Yeah, I've got some extra money that I don't need. I was trying to find a way to spend it, and I think I just did."

"N-no, I'm f-fine, thanks."

"You sure? It's pretty cold out there, and you probably shouldn't even be running around in the cold with that little amount of clothing." The girl's face went red.

"Y-you don't h-have to buy me a-anything."

"Hang on." Kevin took off his hoodie, revealing a Black V-Neck Tee. "Here, you can put this on over your armor." He tossed her the hoodie.

"W-won't you be c-cold?"

"Nah, I'm used to cold weather. I'll be fine."

The Octoling hesitated and then put the hoodie on.

"T-thanks," she said. "I feel w-warmer already."

Kevin smiled. "Do you have a name?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I-I'm Eight."

"Eight? That's an interesting nickname. Where'd you get it?"

"I'd rather n-not talk about it." Slowly, she warmed back up.

A couple minutes later, two more Octolings wandered over. One, a boy, had yellow tentacle hair, wearing a Gas Mask, an FA-01 Jacket, and some Armor Boot Replicas, holding an Octobrush over his shoulder. The girl behind him also had yellow tentacles and wore the exact same outfit and held the same weapon.

"Hey," the boy said. "Care if we join?"

"Nah, it's fine, bro," Keystone said.

"Cool. I'm Flakes and this is Pogue. Pleased to meet ya guys."

"Well, that's everyone, right?" Cosmo asked after another round of introductions.

"NORMAL MODE, SQUARE 15, PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE TRANSPORT CENTER."

"Well, that's us," Eric said. "Head 'em up and move 'em out." He walked off while the group stared at him.

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?" Cosmo asked.

"Uh, it means 'let's go.'"

"The just say 'let's go,' dumbass."

"Sorry."

The group walked over to the transport center, which had eight pads, one for each person. In front of each pad was a large button.

"We ready?" Pogue asked. Everybody nodded in agreement. "Then on the count of three. One, two, three!" Everybody slapped their button, forcing them into their basic forms. The pads absorbed them, transporting them to their spawn pad. As Kevin reverted into his bipedal form, he looked to see who was on his team. He had Keystone, Marshall, and Flake. Everybody was orange.

"Man, I kinda feel bad for Eric," Keystone said. "He's got all three girls on his team."

"Aw, I'm sure he'll be fine. If not, it's payback for waking me up like that." Marshall grinned.

"Alright, who's gonna lead?" Flake asked.

"I think you should. You're the Octoling." Kevin motioned towards Flake. "Chances are, you've seen some combat."

"So you're assuming that all Octolings are in the military?" Flake says, mock offense on his face.

"N-no, that's not what I meant!" Kevin waves his arms.

"Just pulling your tentacle. I'll take the lead."

"Cool."

Kevin took a look around, and saw that they were at Musselforge Fitness.

The announcer started counting down. "Three."

"You guys ready?" Flake asked.

"You bet your ass I am," Marshall responded.

"Two."

"Do we have a plan?" Keystone looked over at Flake. "It's kinda important."

"Uh, how about you go down towards the center. Kevin, I want you to go with and cover him. Marshall, go left. I'll take the right. Clear?"

The group nodded in agreement.

"One."

"Let's do this!" Kevin yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Go!" The group surged forward. Kevin followed Keystone down the center of the stage, inking the ground as much as he could while keeping up with Keystone. Keystone managed to get quite a bit more coverage with his Splattershot, though, so Kevin didn't mind. He was there to cover and get splats, Keystone was there to get coverage.

Soon, they made it to the center.

"How about you get up there?" Keystone said, pointing at a wall.

"Never been up there before. Is it even possible?"

"Here, I'll give you a quick boost." Kevin climbed on top of Keystone, grabbing the lip of the wall, hauling himself up. He looked down and Keystone gave him a quick thumbs-up before continuing to coat the ground in orange. Kevin looked around and saw a teal Cosmo heading towards Keystone, although he didn't see her.

"Look out!" Kevin yelled, taking aim. Keystone looked up just in time to see Cosmo only ten feet in front of him, and he quickly dodged to the right before Cosmo could get him with her blaster. She quickly shifted her aim, but before she could get a shot out, Kevin sniped her.

"Thanks!" he heard Keystone yell, followed by a "damn" from Cosmo as she retreated to her spawn point. A moment later, Eight appeared, taking her place. Keystone saw her approaching and charged, but what he didn't expect was a random bomb flicked in his direction, landing at his feet and inksploding a split-second later, sending him back to the spawn pad.

Kevin, from his perch, looked for the source of the bomb. His scope soon settled on Eric, who was tossing a splat bomb up and down in his hand, looking around, looking for his next target. Kevin took aim, took a deep breath to ensure his shot went just as he desired, and pulled the trigger. Eric was splatted instantly, coating the ground in orange ink. Before Kevin could celebrate, though, he noticed an Ink Strike targeting him. He hopped down the instant before it hit where he sat moments before.

He quickly looked for another high point, settling on one he could get to without help this time. He sprayed himself a path up it and swam up, getting to the top the moment before a shot from Cosmo's blaster hit his path.

"That all you got?" Kevin taunted, seeing that Cosmo needed to refill her ink tank. Kevin leveled his charger with her head and pulled the trigger.

"Not this time!" Cosmo shouted and dove away into her ink, narrowly avoiding the charger shot. Kevin shot short bursts along her trail, hoping to cut her off, but had no success.

"Uh, Kevin, a little help would be nice!" Flake signalled him over the auto map system.

"Sorry, can't help now. Maybe Marshal and his Explosher can?"

"Good idea." Kevin returned to looking at the battlefield and spotted Pogue and Eight charging at him. Pouge flung some ink up at Kevin with her Octobrush and got a couple direct hits. Kevin groaned as he tried to get away, but some good aiming from Eight's Octoshot finished him off. He was instantly sent back to the spawn point. As he returned to bipedal, he saw Eric outside the spawn pad, completely ignoring him.

"Hey, Eric," Kevin said. Eric jumped, and turned around just as a charge from Kevin's charger hit him square in the chest. Kevin then fired some short bursts in an attempt to reclaim some territory. He soon returned to the center to hear the announcer proclaim that there was only one minute left, followed by "Now or Never!" playing in the background. A quick look at his auto map showed that it appeared they were winning, but he wasn't sure. He then climbed back on top of a short tower, looking for another target. He didn't find any, as everybody on the other team was probably back on their own side, getting some of their missed turf.

"Help!" he heard Marshall cry, and Kevin jumped to him. When he landed, he saw Eric lobbing some bombs at Marshall, who was frantically dodged them. "How the hell does he have so many bombs?" He yelled when Eric ran out.

"I've got an Ink Saver slot," he replied as he refilled. When he came out of the ink, Kevin shot him again.

"That's the third time I've gotten him," Kevin said to Marshall, who looked grateful that Eric's aim happened to be slightly off. Looking around, they realized that they needed to get some of the turf back. A few bursts from the charger and a few tosses with the Explosher finished that off instantly.

"Here, let's get to the center really quick," Kevin said, tossing a few bombs here and there along the way to get the little bits they might've missed. The center was a heated mess, with Flake dodging Eric's bombs, Pogue and Eight teaming up on Keystone, and Cosmo getting into position to fire on Flake.

"Ten."

"Here, you take Eric and Cosmo, I've got Cosmo and Eight."

"Nine."

Kevin snuck behind Eight and came up right behind her. Unlucky for him, Eight's hearing was impeccable, and she slipped a burst bomb behind her without even turning around, splatting Kevin on the spot.

"Eight."

As Kevin respawned, he furiously tapped his auto map, jumping to Marshall, hoping to get one final splat in before the match was over.

"Seven."

The center came into view, and Kevin began charging his shot.

"Six."

The charge finished a second before Kevin landed.

"Five."

He landed, took a quick aim at Cosmo's back, and fired. Unfortunately, he missed.

"Four."

He quickly dove into his ink to avoid being seen by Cosmo, and he swam away towards his side. He was traveling too fast, though, and Cosmo saw him, blasting the trail in front of him, cutting him off.

"Three."

Kevin turned bipedal, charging his shot while Cosmo charged hers.

"Two."

They both fired, the shots hitting each other in mid air.

"One."

A quick burst bom from Eight sent Kevin to the spawn pad once more.

"GAME!"

Everybody's ink tanks shut off, and they were all forced to their spawn pads and then sent back to the Transport Center.

"Well, that was fun," Pogue said as they surfaced on the transport pads.

"Who won?" Eight asked, looking towards Judd and Lil' Judd. They looked at the screen showing a top-down view of the stage, and then turned around. Judd held up a teal flag, pointing it in Lil' Judd's direction, who fell over clutching his chest.

"Man," Marshall said while the other team cheered.

"Hey, not bad," Kevin said. "You guys got us by 10%. That's pretty good. Especially you, Eight. That splat you got me with was amazing. I've never seen hearing that well."

Eight blushed. "T-thanks."

"ATTENTION ALL BATTLERS," a voice on the PA-system called. "DUE TO INCLIMATE WEATHER, WE ARE SORRY TO SAY THAT WE MUST SHUT DOWN THE TURF WAR LOBBY FOR THE DAY. I REPEAT, WE ARE SHUTTING DOWN TURF WARS FOR THE DAY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION. PLEASE BEGIN MAKING YOUR WAY TOWARDS THE LOCKER ROOMS TO COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL ITEMS. THANK YOU AGAIN."

"Well, there goes that," Flake mumbled. "Well, we'll be seeing you around." He and Pogue walked towards the locker rooms with the other Inklings and Octolings, most of which were grumbling about stupid weather patterns and the like.

"Well, I guess I'll be seein' y'all later," Eric said, clapping Marshall on his shoulder. "C'mon, pardner." They both turned to walk away.

"Hey, hang on," Kevin said. "Seriously, how do you make your tentacles red?"

"Here, wanna touch 'em? P'rhaps you'll figger it out by touchin' 'em."

Kevin placed a hand on one and closed his eyes, willing his tentacles to turn red. He heard Eric snicker and the sound of a camera snapping a picture, so he opened his eyes. "What?" he demanded.

"Oh, nothin'. It's just that yer face is redder than my tentacles and your tentacled look like the dirt."

"What?" Kevin glanced over and saw Eight with her phone, laughing. "Lemme see." She turned her phone around and there the picture was, his face scrunched up and red and tentacles brown. He touched one, moving it into view, seeing that it was still brown. He changed them back to light blue in an instant.

"Guess red's not my color," he said, looking over at Eric.

"Oh well. I've gotta go, though. See y'all later!"

Eric and Marshall walked off. "Want me to walk you home?" Kevin offered Eight. "It's pretty cold out there."

Eight thought on this for a second. "Well, I-I guess. We just met, though."

"Oh, I know. I was just trying to be nice. But if you don't want my company-"

"N-no! You can walk with me! I'd actually like the company. People don't really seem to notice me, so sure, you can come."

'Score!' Kevin thought. "Alright. See you on the other side of the locker rooms?"

"Uh, y-yeah. Sure."

The two walked over to the locker rooms, splitting when they reached them. Kevin hurried to get his clothes changed and stuff put away so he could be the first out of the locker room. He rushed out to the opening lobby and sat down on a chair. A few moments later, Eight came out, this time wearing more clothing, specifically the addition of a coat.

"Alright," Kevin said. "You ready?"

"Y-yeah, sure," she responded.

"Hey, if you're nervous around me, you don't need to be. You seem nervous."

"S-sorry, I've kinda learned to not trust people, so it comes naturally that I won't feel safe around you. A lot of people have tried to hurt me before."

"Well, I can assure you that I am not that kind of person."

"R-really?"

"Yep. Cross my hearts, I am not that kind of person."

The two walked in silence for a minute.

"Hey, uh, I don't live down this street," Eight said as Kevin turned off of the main road.

"You don't? Oh, well, I thought we could take a quick detour." He grabbed Eight's hand and headed directly into a café. "Get whatever you want. My treat for your team winning."

"B-but I can't take y-your money, I mean-"

"You know, it's rude to refuse a gift." Eight just looked at him with an annoyed look on her face.

"O-okay, I guess I'll get something." She walked up to the counter, Kevin following directly behind her. After she had ordered a small pastry and a tea, Kevin grabbed himself a coffee and paid. The two of them then sat down at a table. Kevin glanced outside and saw it begin to snow.

"So, Eight. Where do you come from? Lived in Inkopolis your entire life?"

Eight sipped at her tea. "Actually, I can't remember where I'm from," she said after a brief hesitation. "My last memory was only a few months ago, when I awoke in a subway with some old dude staring at me."

"Not exactly the greatest thing to wake up to when you don't remember anything before," Kevin mentioned. "So, where was this subway?" Eight kinda flinched and looked uncomfortable. "Sorry, is it a sensitive topic?"

"Well, k-kinda, yeah. But I'll tell you anyway. I've had this piled up on my chest for months now and I need to tell somebody that doesn't already know." Eight launched into the story of her adventures underground with the Deepsea Metro and how she narrowly escaped, saving the entire world at the end of it all. Kevin listened intently, wanting every juicy part of the story, and was engrossed within a few moments. The longer they sat, the more the snow piled up outside, and the colder their drinks got. Kevin especially listened to the parts where she mentioned Pearl and Marina. The first time they were mentioned, Kevin spit out a bit of his coffee, which was growing cold.

"Wait, did you say Pearl and Marina? As in, Off the Hook?"

"Y-yeah, I did. But shush, I'm not done yet." She playfully swatted at him, and continued her story.

Eventually, Eight reached the end of her long narrative. A quick glance outside showed that it was getting dark, and Kevin jumped up quickly.

"Holy catfish, how long was that story?" he exclaimed. "I should get you home before it really gets cold."

"Oh, really? I was actually kinda enjoying the company." Eight blushed and shyly looked away.

"Well, who says I have to leave after I walk you home?" Eight looked up at him, face glowing.

"Really? You'll stay a bit longer? Oh, that would be wonderful! I rarely have company. I'm not complaining, though, Pearl and Marina are pretty good friends, but it would be nice to add one to the list?"

"I don't see why not," replied Kevin. The two walked back outside, trudging through the freshly piled-up snow coating the ground. Soon, they arrived at Eight's apartment building.

"Well, would you like to watch a movie or something?" Eight asked as they walked in the front door. The apartment was kind of small, having a living room and dining area right as you walk in the door. There were three doors in there, one to the kitchen on the left, one to a bathroom, and one to a bedroom on the right. The walls had a few paintings and a couple photos of people, but other than that, the decor was pretty bland.

"Uh, yeah, a movie sounds good." Eight walked over to the TV and turned it on. "Do you have a preference? I've got a few horror films, a couple superhero ones, and some sci-fi."

"Uh, do you have Iron Squid?"

"Let me check." Eight dug through a box of DVDs for a moment. "Uh, yeah," she said, pulling out a few cases. "One, two, or three?"

"The first sounds good." Eight popped open the case, inserting the disk into the DVD player. Soon, the movie came up.

"Here, let me make some popcorn!" Eight ran into the kitchen, tossing a package of popcorn into the microwave. A few moments later, the kernels started to pop, and the smell made Kevin hungry. He glanced at his watch and saw that it as only 7, so he had no need to complain yet.

Eight came back into the living room holding a bowl of popcorn and two bottles of soda under her arms. "Here we are," she said, setting down the refreshments. The two sat down on the couch and began the movie.

When it was over, Kevin yawned big and glanced at his watch again, showing it was around 9:30. "Well, it's getting kinda late. I should probably head home."

"You know," Eight said. "This reminds me of some holiday I was reading about in a book."

"Oh? I haven't heard of a holiday this time of year."

"It's an elder race holiday. I think they called it...uh, Valentine's Day? Valentime's Day? I can't remember. Anyways, it's a day where you basically spend it with somebody special. What's the date?"

Kevin glanced at his watch. "Uh, the 14th."

"Really? Wow. That's the date that the humans would celebrate it."

"That's cool. Why does this remind you of that day?"

Eight blushed. "Uh, well, b-because, well, I, uh-"

"Like me?"

"Well, uh...yeah. I guess. I mean, people typically aren't all that nice to me, and it doesn't help that I'm shy. But you...you've just put yourself out there. You were kind beyond a level you didn't need to be. I mean, you gave me your sweatshirt so I could be a bit warmer. And then you treat me at a café just because my team won. Nobody, besides Pearl and Marina, have ever been nice to me like that, let alone a _guy_ being nice to me. And...I find that really special about you."

Kevin sat there for a moment. "I mean, it's the right thing to do," he said after a minute or two. "I can't see why people aren't nice to you, though, I mean, you're a wonderful person."

"Y-you really think so?"

"Yeah."

"T-thanks.

"Hey, how about I give you my number, huh? How's that sound?"

"Uh, y-yeah, sure." Eight handed her phone to Kevin, who input his number. He then put hers into his phone.

"Well, I probably should be going. It's getting kinda late." He got up from the couch.

"Wait!" Eight cried. "Uh, how about you stay here for the night? I mean, it's cold and dark outside, so…"

Kevin sat back down. "You sure? I don't want to be a bother."

"It's no bother! Here, I'll set you up on the couch." She hopped up and grabbed a blanket and pillow from her bedroom. "I've got some extra blankets, so I'll be fine. Here." She set them down on the couch.

"Well, okay," Kevin said, situating himself in a comfortable manner. "I guess I'll stay."

"Good," Eight said. "Want to watch another movie then?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 _And thus, Kevin has a girlfriend. Or thinks he does, at least._

You know, I'm kinda disappointed that this story can't continue further since it's not canonical. I feel I could take this further, so maybe next year I will. But it was long enough as it was, so I'm gonna have to cut it off.

From here on out, you can expect more surprises. I may actually make a spin-off using the OCs I have, but in an alternate reality. Or something like that. So look out, because I'll be hitting you guys with some tricks I've got up my sleeves.


	8. Chapter 6: Glasses

**Chapter 6: Glasses**

 **Aileen**

The night was dark. So was the house. Each Octoling within was asleep. Aileen, of course, was no exception. Asleep she was in her bed, no dreams haunting her. She was at peace.

Slowly, the bedroom window opened, and two Inklings dressed all in black climbed through the window. One accidentally kicked the window sill when they climbed through.

"Shh!" a male voice said. "Quiet, Four, you don't want to wake her."

"Sorry, Josiah," Four replied. "I didn't expect the window sill to be so high."

"Just be more careful next time."

Josiah crept up to the bed. He reached for the glasses sitting on her face, which were the ones the army gave her as part of her uniform. The exact pair that Marina was currently hacking in the house right next door. With a slight pull, they came off easily.

"Done," he, turning towards Four.

"I really don't see why I was needed up here," Four replied, annoyance in her voice.

"You were here in case she woke up, which she didn't. So, yeah, I can see why you think you weren't needed."

Four grunted as she moved towards the window. "Well, alright then. See ya at the bottom." She jumped out.

Josiah looked over at Aileen and stroked one of her tentacles. "I hope this fixes everything," he said. "I've missed you, you know. You being like this has been hard for me. Please, come back to me and remember me." He sat there for a minute, sadness in his eyes. "It's been hard without you, Aileen. We've done so much together in our lives and I want that back. The past two years was the hardest time of my life. It doesn't help that you were taken the day we confessed to each other, but..." he wiped a few tears off his face. "Please, let this fix everything."

"You coming?" somebody shouted outside. "I'm about ready to walk away!" In his surprise, Josiah slightly jumped, dropping the glasses on Aileen's chest, causing her to be startled awake.

"Hang on, Eight! Don't leave me!" He grabbed the glasses while Aileen rubbed her eyes.

"Who's there?" she asked. "Where are my glasses, I can't see!" She looked over at the window and saw Josiah, who was simply a blurry figure in black. He turned around and saw her staring at him.

"I'll be back," he said, slipping the glasses on his face, crossing his arms over his chest, and falling backwards out the window. A loud crash was then heard from beneath the window.

"Ow, what the hell?" he cried. "Eight, you were supposed to catch me!"

"I didn't feel like it," a voice replied. Aileen climbed out of bed and slowly walked over to the window to see at least something. Down below were three figures. One was lying on the ground while the other two were standing on top of him.

"Eight, you can't just let him fall." Four said. "I mean, you don't like him, but don't be rude."

"Hmmf," Eight replied. "We'll see." She stalked off.

Four looked down at Josiah. "Are you able to move, or should I drag your ass out of here?"

"Well, I can move, but if you want to drag me-" His sentence was cut off by a slap. "Really? Come on, Four, you're nicer than that. I would've expected Eight to do that, not you."

"Look, if you can move, then I'm not dragging you off."

"But my back hurts, I landed on my arm."

"And you expect me dragging you will help with that?"

"No-"

"Then you're walking."

Josiah picked himself up, grunting. "Fine," he said, dusting himself off, then returning with Four to his house.

"What the hell was all that about?" Aileen asked herself, head cloudy. Suddenly, the last two years of her life came back with the speed of a bullet train. She collapsed on the floor, tears streaming down her face. Images flashed by her eyes: her locking up innocent Inklings, her beating up anybody who opposed her, the control of Three. Even a few murders were mixed into it.

"I did...all that?" She said through choked sobs. "But...why? I would never do anything like that. Thats...that's not me!"

"Aileen?" A knock was heard on the door, her mother calling to her. "Are you okay in there? What's wrong?"

"Nothing mom," Aileen replied after composing herself somewhat. "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, just a bad dream."

"Okay then. Goodnight."

Aileen sat on the floor for a few minutes, thinking of what she was to do. First, she needed to find her old glasses, not the army ones. That way she would be able to see. She rummaged through her dresser and found the case but no glasses were inside. "Damn," she spat, tossing the case to the floor. She decided to let that go for now and instead get over to Josiah's house and talk to him. She wanted mainly to apologize for the last two years, but she also wanted time with him.

She grabbed a flashlight from her dresser and headed to the window. If she jumped just right, there wouldn't be much of a sound and she would roll, reducing the risk of injury. She didn't want to go through the house, though, as she would have to deal with her parents. Parents or jump? Parents or jump? The thought circled around in her head for a moment.

"Screw it," she said after contemplating her options for at least a few seconds. "It's not like I have a choice; there's no way in hell my parents are simply gonna let me slide past. I _have_ to jump." Aileen walked over to the window, still open from Josiah's escape. "Just roll right when you hit the ground," she told herself.

After a few moments of sitting there at the window looking down, calculating the exact moment to hit the ground, Aileen jumped. She felt like she was falling forever, but she forced herself to count. "One." The ground grew closer, and Aileen wondered if she had calculated right. It's not like she would break anything in the impact as they had no bones, but she didn't want to find out what _would_ happen. "Two." The calculations ran wild in her head. She was extremely worried that perhaps she'd burst her ink sac, causing a relatively quick death. "Three." Then again, a fall from only two stories wouldn't cause _that_ big of an injury. Aileen let out a deep breath. "Roll!" She hit the ground, rolling right with the impact, away from the house. When she stopped, she got up and patted herself down, noticing only a tiny cut on her arm.

"I-I'm okay!" she exclaimed. "Ha ha! I did it right! My calculations were accurate!" After a quick moment of celebrating, she remembered _why_ she jumped. With that in her head, she ran out of the lawn and over to Josiah's front door. After pounding on it for a few seconds, it flew open, revealing Josiah still wearing the glasses and his black clothing.

"Oh, hi, Aileen," he said with a smile. "How are you this wonderful night?"

"Uh, good. But I needed to talk to you. A-about the last two years." She broke down in tears. "I-I'm so, so sorry about how I've treated you! I remember it all, and I hate myself for all that I did. I never hated you, and yet I did. I never wanted to hurt you, but a voice in my head told me I should. I extremely regret the last few years of my life. And I don't know if you can forgive me for that."

Josiah stood there for a minute. "Forgive you? Are you serious? We've known each other since you were, what, two? We've been doing everything together nearly our entire lives. You helped me through the hard times I had on the farm before we moved here. You and I know eachother better than the backs of our hands. And you're concerned I won't forgive you because you got squidnapped and hypnotized?" Josiah put his hands on her shoulders. "Look me in the eye." Aileen looked up. "I do forgive you. There is no need to be ashamed, you weren't yourself. All that stuff you did for the army? That wasn't you, that was somebody doing those things _through_ you. And I love you more now than I did that night two years ago." He leaned in and kissed her full on the mouth. "And you have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," he said when they broke apart.

"But I did more than just that. I-" she sniffed. "I've killed people over tiny genetic differences. I'm not sure even _I_ can forgive _myself_ for that."

"Aileen, listen. I said that all that shit wasn't you."

"Y-you're right." She wiped a couple tears from her eyes. "Thanks, Josiah."

The hugged again.

"Hey," a shrill voice from inside called. "If you two love-birds are done there, I could use a bit of help getting a snack. I can't reach!"

Josiah sighed. "Pearl, I'll be there in a mo-" He froze and stood there, mouth gaping open. He began to tremble.

"What the hell?" Aileen waved her hand in front of his face and poked him a few times with no reaction. She glanced up at his face and saw that the glasses were displaying some text. Aileen was unable to read it, though, as she couldn't see too well.

"Uh, some help here?" she called.

"What?" The voice from inside said.

"I can't read the text on these things." She heard footsteps coming towards her. Aileen jumped back in surprise as she saw that the figure was Pearl. She didn't need glasses to figure that out. Pearl took one glance at Josiah's face.

"Oh, shit!" she cried, and yanked the glasses off. Josiah jerked and fell over. Aileen yelped and jumped on top of him.

"Josiah, get up!" she yelled, slapping him in the face. "Wake up, damn it!" Tears streamed down her face "I just got you back and I can't lose you again!" She looked at Pearl. "Why did you do that? What did the glasses say?"

"They were rebooting. Not sure what would've happened after the reboot, but it probably wouldn't help us. Hang on, at least check the pulse." Pearl shoved Aileen aside, putting her fingers under Josiah's chin. "Okay, yeah, his hearts are beating. Just didn't want you to waste your energy." She grabbed Josiah and picked him up by the shirt, slapping him violently in the face. "Wake. Up," she said with each hit. After maybe ten or eleven slaps, he woke up.

"O-ow, hey!" He batted away Pearl's hand, dropping to the floor. "What was that for?"

"You weren't waking up. I helped."

"Gee, thanks," Josiah replied sarcastically. "Now my face is more numb than my arm."

"Pssh, you can't _feel_ your arm, it's not even there."

Josiah stood up and looked down straight into Pearl's eyes. "I'm not looking to fight you, but I will if I need to. You have _no_ experience with a prosthetic, meaning you don't know whether or not you can feel something that isn't there. The truth is that I do. Every day of my life, I feel what isn't there. And it never goes away. Never has, never will. I'll have you know that I am not in a good mood right now and if your face somehow connects with my right fist, well, I will tell you that I will _not_ be sorry in the slightest." Pearl stepped back at his comment.

"Geez, sorry," she said before going inside.

"Sorry you had to see that, Aileen," Josiah apologized, looking at her. "First, I don't get along well with one member of our team, now Pearl."

"Wait, team? What kind of team?"

"Oh, that. Well, how about I show you? After you." He motioned towards the door, and Aileen walked inside.

"Hey, Cap'n, you still awake?" Josiah called throughout the house. A door down upstairs opened and he heard the old man hobble downstairs.

"You called?" he said, looking at Josiah, completely ignoring or not noticing Aileen.

"So the plan went through, and I would like to introduce Aileen to everybody. So Cap'n, this is Aileen." Josiah motioned towards Aileen. Cuttlefish's eyes went wide, and he smiled.

"Well, young lass," he said while shaking her hand. "I hear from Agent J here that you are quite the remarkable person. I believe that if we work together, we'll topple the Octarian rule for certain."

"Wait, topple the Octarians? Is that what this team is?"

"Oho, you are quite smart! Yes, we plan to take back what's ours once and for all. We grabbed you to mainly be our intel, as you no doubt know about the going-ons within the army, am I correct in assuming that?"

"Well, yeah, I am kinda important."

"Good. Well, Agent J, you probably should introduce her to the rest of the team."

"Sounds good, Cap'n. Sorry if I woke you."

"Oh, it's no big deal. I was going to sleep in anyways."

Cuttlefish walked back upstairs, leaving Josiah and Aileen.

"So you're telling me that you're in a group of renegades attempting to usurp the throne?"

"Usurp?"

"Yeah, taking by force."

"Oh, right. Come on, you know I'm not as smart as you."

"Right, sorry."

"Well, I guess you could say that. But it wasn't theirs in the first place."

"True. Shall we see the rest of the crew?"

"Yeah, let's do that."

Josiah first led her upstairs to his bedroom.

"Hang on, this is your bedroom," she noted.

"Yeah, I know. I thought that since I was in yours, you might as well see mine. That, and it's the main computer room."

Josiah threw open the door, revealing Marina and Callie on the computer.

"Aileen, I'm sure you already know these two, but Callie in this operation is known as Agent 1."

Aileen stood there, struck with the fact that she was there in front of two pop idols, not only in her pajamas, but unable to see them clearly."

"Oh, uh, wow, hi?" Aileen stammered. "I'm sorry, but you're both simply blurs. I can't find my glasses."

"Oh, that's too bad," Marina said. "I'm glad to see my hacking worked, though. Haven't done something that extensive since that company-model CQ-80 a few years ago."

"I have no clue what you're referring to, but thanks for saving me." She caught a blurry glimpse of the computer. "Hey, Josiah, is your PC running kelpOS?"

"Yeah, surprised you recognized it without your glasses."

"It's pretty discernable from Waters. They're pretty different. How'd you get it to work?"

"Oh, well, with some Internet forums, I-"

"Ahem," their nerdy talk was interrupted by Callie. "Sorry, but shouldn't we be working?"

"Wait, on what?"

"We're trying to figure out how to take care of the other Octolings with the glasses, and rather one at a time, we're gonna do it on a larger scale. It was Marina's idea."

"Really? Well, keep me posted."

Aileen followed him downstairs. "You're gonna know Pearl and Marie already, and you met Pearl personally, so we'll skip them for now. But Aileen," he approached Four, who, along with the others, was sprawled out on the couch watching a movie. "This is Four."

"Four, huh? Interesting name. I'm Aileen, it's nice to meet you."

"Thanks. You're pretty cute asleep."

Aileen stepped back in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"Ha, I'm kidding. Although you do sleep peacefully."

"And how would you know that?" Aileen crossed her arms defensively.

"I was with Josiah when he took the glasses off of you, before making the idiotic mistake of leaving them on too long."

"Oh, you already heard about that?"

"Yup."

"Okay. Well, enjoy the movie."

He walked over to the chair, where another Octoling was asleep. He kicked the chair, waking her up.

"Huh? Wha- oh, it's only you."

"Aileen, this is Eight. I hope you get along better with her than I do."

"Look, that's your own fault."

"Is it now? And how so is that?"

"Because you don't trust me!"

"You know why that is."

"Okay, break it up, you two!" Aileen shoved herself in the middle of them. "I don't know what your deal is with each other, but Josiah, I know you, and this isn't you. You wouldn't treat _anybody_ like this. So that's enough."

Josiah simply stared at her for a moment, then stalked into the kitchen. He threw opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of pop, sitting down at the table. Aileen sat down next to him a moment later.

"Josiah, what's your deal?"

"I don't know. It's almost as if I simply can't have friends. Ever since I lost you, I've been broken - mentally _and_ physically." He glanced down at his arm and saw that the plastic sheathing was starting to break away. "Son of a BITCH!" he shouted, slamming his fist into the table, leaving a large dent. "EIGHT! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" he roared, rushing into the living room and dumping Eight out of the chair.

"You see this?" he asked, pointing at his damaged arm. "Huh? This is _your_ fault for not catching me. Because of that, my arm's falling apart, and I don't have the tools to fix this right now. So if this fully breaks, not only will I be useless, but I'll blame you. And you do NOT want me to blame you. I already threatened Pearl; I'm doing the same with you: if this fist connects with your face one way or another, I'm going to not be sorry in any way. Is that understood?"

Eight nodded, picking herself off the floor. "I'm sure I've handled worse than you before, but I do know when to stop provoking, so yes, I understand."

"Good." With that, Josiah walked back over to the table, sat down next to Aileen, and put his head in his hands.

"Josiah? Are you okay?" Aileen put her hand on his shoulder. "Look, I know the past two years were hard. Truth is, they probably were harder for me, because I was consciously hurting you and other Inklings against my will with no way to stop it. But you need a way to vent that." She noticed the dent in the table. "Holy catfish, how strong is that arm?"

"It's partially hydraulic, what do you expect?" Josiah sighed. "You're right, I _do_ need a way to vent. What do you have in mind?"

"Don't know yet, but I'll think of something." Aileen sat there for a moment. "Hang on a sec. You have two people here with numbered names, Four and Eight."

"Right."

"Are there more?"

"Well, Callie's One and Marie's Two. But we are missing a third."

"Let me guess, his name is Three?"

"How did you know that Three's a boy?" Four asked.

"I've met him. We captured him apparently."

"I-is he okay?" Eight asked nervously.

"Yeah, we only put the hypnoshades on him. No big deal, they'll come off just as easily as mine did."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Now help me find my _real_ glasses. I can't see."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 _And so Aileen is no longer under Octarian control. Hurrah! But she knows vital information about Three that the others are dying to know._

And done with yet another. I will say, this has been extraordinarily fun the past, what? Holy crap, this is the _sixth_ week I've been working on the project. Thank you guys for your support so far, and thank you, ChiggerD, for that constructive review I've been needing. I've been attempting to work on what was said there, so if you guys don't mind, please leave a review so I can see what needs work. Also, thanks Justsomesquidiot (Fizz) for your review. Any and all are helpful!

See ya next Sunday!


	9. Chapter 7: Breakout

**?**

"Well?" a large male Octarian said. "What have you come to my office to tell me?

"Sir, we have information about a sort of rebellion," a female Octoling replied.

"Oh, really?" The male stroked his chin for a moment with a tentacle. "Any idea who it may be?"

"We have reason to suspect it to be Cap'n Cuttlefish leading the New Squidbeak Splatoon."

"And what information are you basing it on?"

"The fact that we captured one of his agents, sir."

The male sat up in his chair, or, he sat up as much as an Octarian could. "Really? How interesting. How long have you had him?"

"Not but a few hours."

"Hmmm." The male sat back to think. "And his status?"

"Three, as he is calling himself, has been issued a Level-One pair of hypnoshades. The programing has been successful, and he is now under our full control."

"Good. Any reason to suspect others in on this rebellion?"

"Yes, sir. According to some sources within the army, about three years ago, when we took the Great Zapfish for a second time, there was another agent, known as Four. We have reason to suspect that she, along with Agents One and Two are also in on it. We don't know if there are any more currently, but we should know sooner or later."

"Sounds good. Now, what to do about the rebellion?" He faked thinking about this to see how good the female was at planning. He liked testing his soldiers as such every once in a while.

"Uh, what if we passed another law that states that nobody, under any circumstances, will be found any color but, oh, say, orange. Keeps them from possibly attacking us, although without any sure way to enforce it, we still may have some rebels. In which case we may scour the city for every Oceanic and issue them permanent bracelets that will force them to stay that color."

The male figure nodded his approval. "I like the sound of that plan, Shana. Keep up the good work."

Shana saluted sharply. "Yes sir, Lord Octopin"

"We shall crush this rebellion. And nothing shall stand in our way."

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Breakout**

 **Josiah**

* * *

The glasses search is unsuccessful. Of course, this makes sense since Aileen doesn't live at my house, but we searched anyways just in case by some strange chance she left a pair at my house some time ago.

"Well, guess I'll search my house," Aileen says, plopping herself down on the couch. "Of course, _after_ my parents wake up, that is."

"Well, do you think you couldn't've wasted our time if you knew there wouldn't be any here?" Eight threw herself into the chair she had been sitting in prior to Aileen's meeting everybody.

"Well, I guess, but-"

"Look, I'm tired as hell, and here you are making us look for your stupid ass glasses. I really don't see why we needed you, honestly. I think we operated just fine before you and Josiah came aboard this damn journey."

"Do you think I want to work with you, either?" I glare directly at Eight, a hostile look in my eyes. "And if you know what's good for you, do not, I repeat, do NOT talk to my girlfriend like that."

Eight flips me off.

"Okay, THAT'S IT." I launch myself at Eight, tackling her out of the chair. We tossle around on the floor for a few minutes before punches are thrown, mostly on my part. All the while, Aileen screams at us to stop, to cut it out, maybe you can settle it another way. We don't care and keep going at it. Rather quickly, Pearl stumbles in and starts cheering for Eight. A moment later, in comes Four, along with Marina, Callie, and Marie. Four notices Pearl's cheering, so she gives me a bit of support.

"Eight!"

"Josiah!"

"Eight!"

"Josiah!"

"What in the hell is going on here?" Everybody, including me and Eight, turn to the source of the voice, Cap'n Cuttlefish.

"Uh, n-nothing, Cap'n." Pearl backs away from him as he turns towards her.

"'Nothing,' my ass. Explain yourselves."

"Cap'n, it was my fault," I say, getting up, wincing. "I got a bit pissed off with Eight here and attacked her. I take full responsibility."

"It was my fault, too," Eight apologizes as well. "If I hadn't provoked him, he wouldn't've attacked me in the first place."

The Cap'n stood there for a moment, disappointment on his face. "Kids these days," he mutters before talking to us. "Well, at least you two are taking responsibility for your actions. But that doesn't excuse your fighting. I'll find a way for you two to work together and get along, and I can promise you, you two will not enjoy it."

"Yes sir," we said in unison. Cuttlefish stalked off, back to bed. We remain quiet for a few moments before Aileen speaks up.

"Oh, uh, I just remembered," she starts nervously. "Uh, remember when you and Kevin were on the train platform and you saw me?"

"Yeah," I reply. "Haven't heard from him since."

"I know where he went."

"What?"

* * *

Aileen and I crouch in hiding outside a warehouse on the outskirts of the city. It's dark, being only about 2 AM.

"So, what's the plan?" I ask Aileen.

"Well, since I'm technically still a soldier, it shouldn't be hard for me to get in. It's getting him _out_ that's gonna be hard."

"Do you know how you're gonna do that?"

"Uh, well…"

I facepalm "Seriously, Aileen? We make it all the way out here and you have no plan?"

"Well, uh, yeah. But at least the others are back at the house, right?"

"I guess not dealing with Eight is nice. But really, if we're gonna break someone out of a prison, we really should have a plan to go along with it. It's kinda necessary."

"Right, right." Aileen sits there a minute, eyes closed. She's currently back in her Octarian army uniform, complete with the glasses, which are currently being hacked by Marina. While Aileen was retrieving the uniform from her room, Marina figured out how to keep them hacked for upwards to 30-ish minutes, which really helps in this kind of situation.

"Think I got something," Aileen says after a moment or two of thinking. "So, I'll get him out of the cell, right? Plan A is to simply say before I get him out that I'm gonna transfer him to another cell, under our commander's orders. Knowing the guard, he should be pretty open to the idea and shouldn't check to make sure there really _is_ an order. If that falls through and he asks for proof, I'll knock him out and then simply go through the ventilation system."

"Okay, but what do I do, then?"

"Stay out here, I guess. I don't have a disguise for you, and there's no way they're gonna let you simply waltz into the place. So your only main option, besides finding your own way in, would be staying out here."

I sigh. "Whatever. Just try to be quick, okay?"

"Aight. See ya in a bit." She slinks off into the night.

* * *

 **Aileen**

She walked up to the main gate. "Hey, Carl," she announced, startling the guard, who was half-asleep.

"Oh, huh, wha?" The startled Carl looked around for a moment before his eyes settled on Aileen. "Oh, Agent Marso. What brings you here so early?"

"I'm moving a prisoner to another facility. Commander's orders."

"Huh, didn't hear anything about it. But whatever, I'll leave ya to it." He opened the gate. "See ya later!"

"Bye, Carl!" Aileen walked through and hurried inside.

* * *

 **Kevin**

The loud sound of the warehouse door slamming woke Kevin up with a start. "Ugh..what the hell?" he moaned, getting up from the bed. He looked around the cell, consisting of a desk, a bookshelf with Octarian literature, a sink, and a toilet.

He walked over to the sink and splashed a bit of water on his face. He instinctively reached for his pocket to grab his phone and check the time, but of course, his pocket was empty. They had confiscated his phone moments after locking him up.

"Hey!" he called to his guard. "What's going on out there?"

"Mind your own business!" the guard snapped back.

"Geez, I just asked a question."

"Yeah, and I gave an answer."

Kevin grunted and sat down at the desk, picking up a book.

" _An Overview of Zapfish Technology._ Boring." He tossed the book aside and grabbed a second. " _A History on the Elder Race._ Boring as well." Grabbing a third, he grunts in disapproval. " _The Physics of Ink._ All boring!" He slams his fist on the table. "Do you only care about technology and history? Where's the fun in your life?"

The guard simply grunted.

"That's what I expected," Kevin said, annoyed.

Soon, he heard footsteps growing near to his cell. He looked out the bars and his hearts nearly stopped.

"Uh, A-Aileen," he stuttered nervously as she stopped outside his cell.

"What did I say about calling me that?"

"Uh, s-sorry."

Aileen turned towards the guard. "I'm taking this prisoner to a different facility. Commander's orders." She flashed the guard her rank of Agent.

"Uh, yes ma'am," the guard replied, saluting. She then turned towards the cell and unlocked it. Aileen walked inside and cuffed Kevin, before turning towards the guard again.

"Didja give him a hard time?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the guard said, saluting again.

"Good. That's what I like to hear." Aileen jerked on Kevin's arm, pulling him towards the door.

* * *

 **Josiah**

From where I sat, I had a perfectly clear view of what was going on outside. Aileen entered with no problem. After not even 10 minutes, I see her exit, Kevin in tow. She walks up to the gate and exits with no problem, bringing Kevin over to me.

"Well," I say as she arrives. "Looks like it was a success."

Aileen pulls her glasses off, sighing in relief. "That was probably the most risky and terrifying thing I've done in my life. I was so nervous that somebody was gonna catch on or the glasses were gonna reboot." She wiped a bit of sweat off her brow.

Kevin stared at us in bewilderment. "Wait, so you _weren't_ taking me to another facility? This was a breakout?"

"Guess you could call it that," I reply.

"And I see you and Aileen are back together just fine."

"That's a story I'll explain, along with a helluva lot more, on the way back to my house."

We throw open the door, entering the home. "Now, it's too late to do introductions now," I say to Kevin, motioning to the sleeping figures on the floor. "Or is it too early? Ah, whatever. Either way, make yourself comfortable, I'm gonna return Aileen to her bed." As if on cue, Aileen yawns.

"I concur," she says between yawns.

The two of us exit the home, returning to her backyard. I glance up at the window, through which I fell through only a few hours before.

"Well, guess I'll be seeing you in a while," I say. "Just...don't get up _too_ early, mmkay?" She nods in agreement. We share a brief kiss before she climbs up on my shoulders.

"Brace yourself," she says before jumping, grasping the window sill and pulling herself through. She looks down at me and waves goodbye before shutting it. I sigh and return to my house. As soon as I enter the room, I collapse on a sleeping bag conveniently placed right where I fall.

* * *

I awake to a violent kick in the gut.

"URGH!" I moan, doubling over.

"Glad to see you're awake," Eight says.

"Why, Eight? Why did you need me up so bad?"

"I'm hungry."

I get up and stare her straight in the face. "Really? You kicked me in the gut so I could get you food? That's it?"

"Yup."

I grunt and head into the kitchen, grabbing a piece of rye bread that tastes like cardboard. "Alright, here ya go."

She takes the bread and looks at it with a look of contempt. "That all you got?"

"No, but it's my house, so I will control what's eaten. And if you hadn't woken me up like that, maybe I'd give you something else."

Eight grunts her disapprovement.

"Your fault," I reply. I start the coffee maker and sit down at the table. The first thing I notice is the dent in it. "Damn, I'd better fix that," I say to myself.

Slowly, the others begin trickling in, some sitting at the table with me and others on the couch. Eight's in the chair like always. Soon, a knock is heard at the door.

I open it, and in walks Aileen, wearing fresh new clothing and a pair of glasses. "Good morning," she says, a smile on her face.

"Hey, Aileen," I reply. "You hungry? I was just about to cook some breakfast." Eight perks her head up at this. "For _mostly_ everybody," I say, and she glares at me.

"Allow me to cook," Callie says, walking in. "You guys want some pancakes, or would ya like waffles instead?"

"Easy choice," says a freshly awoken Pearl. "Pancakes, duh. They're _much_ better than waffles. I mean, you can make a whole stack of waffles in the time it takes to _find_ a waffle iron."

I walk over to the pantry. "Uh, I've got one right here. Got a stack of pancakes yet?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Besides, waffles are better," says Marina from the table. Pancakes disintegrate between your teeth, leaving you unsatisfied after every bite."

"Okay, that's a little much-"

"I agree with Pearl, that's a bit excessive, Marina." I grab the iron. "Although, I do agree that waffles are better."

The two bicker with each other for a moment or two.

"That's it!" Pearl shouts, throwing her hands in the air. "We're settling this Splatfest style after we get this coup taken care of."

"Sounds good to me," Marina agrees.

Callie gets to work with the waffles.

"Good morning, young'uns," Cuttlefish greets us, walking into the kitchen. "Mmm, do I smell waffles?"

"Yep, sure do, Gramps!" Callie replies.

"Smells amazing." He sits down at the table after grabbing himself some coffee.

"What's the plan for today?" Marie calls from the couch.

"Well, I was thinking that we'll launch an attack." The room gapes at him. "Nothing too big, just see what the enemy's made out of."

"You sure that's a good idea?"

"Well, after we recruit the rest of J's friends, that is. Kevin's probably not enough to keep us going."

"Huh? Somebody said my name?" Kevin gets up off the floor, awoken by the group's mentioning him.

"Yeah, we're discussing our plans for the day," I reply.

"What are they?"

"We're launching a small attack."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 _Kevin's out and Aileen's free. The plan is to get some more people recruited, and hopefully that will go just fine for them. And Eight and Josiah's relationship is rockier than ever._

Another week, another chapter done. Here's this one for ya guys, trying to take a bit of a different approach from here on out. That little intro was me mimicking a TV show, where it has the mini-intro and then the title before launching into the main story. And yeah, you can expect more switches between the person the chapter follows from here on out. Maybe not a whole lot of them, but certainly a few here and there.

Thanks for your continuous support, I wouldn't be as confident without it. And don't forget, reviews certainly help. Don't be afraid to ask questions, I'll address any within this "Author's Note" section.

See ya next Sunday!


	10. Chapter 8: Friends

**Author's Preliminary Note:** I'm terribly sorry that this chapter is late. Over the week, I managed to somehow get a virus and put how busy and tired I was on top of being sick and you get a late, shorter than normal chapter. Don't worry, though, I'll strive to keep on schedule as best as I can, as the sickness is dissipating nearly as fast as it got here. Anyways, enjoy!

 **Chapter 8: Friends**

 **Aileen**

"Mmmf, eesh wawal er goo," said Aileen, mouth full of waffles.

"What was that?" Cuttlefish asked.

Aileen swallowed. "I said, 'mmm, these waffles are good.'"

"I agree," said Marina. "Thanks, Callie!"

"I still think pancakes are better," muttered Pearl. "But I'll take these anyways."

Eight muttered something inaudible over in her chair.

"Hmm?" Josiah looked in her direction.

"I said, 'sorry for waking you up.'" She glared at him, fire in her purple eyes.

"Wow, taking responsibility for something, are ya?"

"I guess."

"Well, I still don't like you, but I'm not a monster and won't let you starve. Come get yourself something before I change my mind."

"Really? You're being nice to me?" There was a load of skepticism in her voice.

"Look, if I were to kid with you, I wouldn't promise you food only to say 'ha, i was joking.'"

"Oh, alright, if you insist."

Eight got up from her place in the chair to grab some food. Meanwhile, Kevin walked in from the bathroom, tentacle hair slightly dripping.

"Hey, thanks for letting me use your shower, Josiah," he said while snatching a waffle. "I certainly needed that."

"Oh, no problem."

Kevin walked over to the table, took one glance at the available seats, and moved over to the couch, glaring at Aileen the whole way.

"Wha?" she said, mouth once again full.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe you kinda locked me in a jail yesterday."

"Okay, look," Aileen replied after swallowing her food. "As Josiah told me, that wasn't me. That was somebody acting _through_ me. I know what I did, I was fully conscious about it, I just had no way of fighting off the actions that were currently happening."

"Yeah, and this waffle is actually an Octarian spy."

"Look, I'm telling the truth."

"The truth, my ass." He returned to his food.

"Hey, give him some time," Josiah said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I think Eight and I are warming up, and our dislike for each other is bigger than Kevin's for you. He'll warm up eventually, I'm sure of it."

"I hope so."

Cuttlefish smacked his cane on the floor a couple of times. Josiah glared at him.

"Uh, do you mind?" he said angrily. "That floor's kinda expensive and I already need to replace my table. I'm not looking for a whole lot more unnecessary things to replace."

"Righto, sorry." Cuttlefish cleared his throat. "Attention, Agents, we have some plans we need to discuss." Everybody looks in his direction who already hadn't. "Alright, good. Now, we have another new member here, Kevin." He motioned towards Kevin, who waved shyly. "He and Aileen are now part of the team. They'll be referred to as Agent K and Agent A respectively."

"Oo, a code name," Kevin said.

"Correct! Now, we still need a few more agents in order to launch a sort of attack. This is us testing the waters, as the humans would say. Seeing what the enemy's made of. As aforementioned, Agent J here has a few more friends he could gather. Is this correct?"

"Uh, yeah, that's right. We just need to go to their houses and get 'em."

"Okay, good. Now, when we have Agent J's friends, we'll head to our hideout and get some weapons and then take out a stray patrol."

"Uh, if I may interject," Aileen interrupted. "Working for the enemy proved that they don't screw around with their patrols. You'd expect the Elites to be the ones to signal for help, right?" Everybody nodded. "Wrong. It's the regulars. Each group has at least two regulars with radios, who will, at the direct sign of attack, signal for another patrol's help. We have to take _them_ out first, otherwise the whole operation is compromised and we are, more or less, screwed."

"Valuable information, thank you, Agent A. Anybody here good with a Charger?" Marie and Aileen nodded. "Good. We'll have you two take out the regulars first. Next, we'll have the rest go in carefully and take out the Elites and normal Octolings."

"Again, if I may. Each patrol consists of the regulars, two Octolings, two Elites, an Octobomber, and a Twintacle or two. Keep this in mind."

"Yes, thank you. So the Chargers then take out the Octobomber. The rest of you, announce your weapons."

"Heavy Splatling," said Josiah.

"Roller," said Kevin and Callie in unison.

Four called out "Slosher!"

"Dualies," replied Pearl and Eight.

Finally, Marina said "Splat Brella."

"Good," replied Cuttlefish. "Now, we'll have Agent J from the side charge his Splatling and take out the Twintacle. Eight and Pearl, you're on Octolings. Agent 1 and Kevin will take out them as well. Finally, Four and Marina will go after the Elites. That everybody?" The group nodded. "Good. With these and the friends Agent J has, we'll be set. Now, on to you, Agent J."

Josiah cleared his throat. "There's really not much to it besides get to my friends' houses and invite them over. They haven't seen me since the takeover, so they'll probably be eager to see me again. That good?"

"Sounds okay to me," said Aileen. "You should also tell them that I'm here, along with Kevin. That should convince them. Maybe if it doesn't, mention your electricity that you have, something like 'I have power.' Something subtle like that."

"Alright. Anything else we need to cover, Cap'n?"

"No, that should be it."

"Cool, I'll get the friends together."

* * *

The front door opened up and in walked Josiah, followed by Elaine, Brianna, and Benny. Josiah closed the door and motioned for the three to sit on the kitchen. Aileen was sitting in the chair, but other than that, the room was empty. The others currently were in another room.

"Hey!" she said as soon as they had entered. "Haven't seen you guys for a while."

"Yeah, we could say the same about you," replied Brianna.

"So," Elaine began, a hint of annoyance on her face. "What's going on? Josiah didn't tell us anything on the way."

"That's a job for somebody else." Aileen got up and walked into the other room, bringing Cuttlefish in. "Cap'n," she said, motioning to the three. "This is Elaine, Brianna, and Benny."

Cuttlefish shook their hands. "Hello there, young'uns," he said happily. "I am Cap'n Cuttlefish, leader of the legendary New Squidbeak Splatoon. I'd like to welcome you to it."

"Wait, hang on," Brianna said. "We don't even know what this is or anything and you're already welcoming us to it?"

"Well, yes. But if you give me a moment, I'll explain." At this, Cuttlefish dove into the same speech he gave Josiah only the previous night, and then brought them up to speed on what had happened between Josiah's recruitment and the current time.

"That sounds hard to believe," Elaine said skeptically. She looked at Josiah, who nodded. "But...I'll take up your offer." She then turned to Benny and Brianna. "You two, go home, you're too young to be risking your lives like this."

"Woah, hey!" Benny wasn't happy, and this showed due to the fact that he only spoke maybe a sentence a day. Josiah joked that the max he's said was 5. "Just because we're only 15 doesn't mean we don't know what we're doing."

"Yes, but if you get yourselves killed, I will feel responsible."

"Young lady," said Cuttlefish. "I respect that you want to protect them, but if anything, I'm responsible for them. It's my army, they're my soldiers. So if they do perish, it's on me, not you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," she replied with a sigh. "I guess I'm not stopping you, huh?"

"Nope!" Brianna replied.

"Alright, Agents. From here on out, you will be known as Agents E, B, and B2." He pointed to Elaine, Brianna, and Benny, respectively.

"Well, then, bring in the others," said Josiah. Aileen walked back into the room and came back out with the rest of the group. After introductions, they went over the plan again, accounting for Brianna's Inkbrush, Elaine's Splattershot, and Benny's Splat Brella. With that in mind, they threw on any necessary disguises, especially for Aileen as she was an extremely well-known Agent, and headed out.

* * *

The group arrived at their headquarters building with, thankfully, no problems. Had they been spotted, even if they weren't captured, the whole operation would've been compromised. They headed down to the meeting/weapon storage room to get suited up. There, Cuttlefish passed out Hero Suits to everyone, no exceptions. They all changed into it and then grabbed their weapon of choice from the wall.

"Don't forget to stock up on subs," Cuttlefish reminded them, and the Agents filled their subpouches up, slung from their belts.

"Well, then," Aileen said. "That everything?" Everybody nodded their approval. "Let's head out then!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 _New-ish faces, a plan in hand, and a group ready for battle. Let's see how this goes!_

Again, I am really sorry about it being, what, two days late. I hope that this was still enjoyable, but since I was sick and kept hitting SO MANY BLOCKS, it probably didn't flow well. But keep an eye out for the next one, I'm hoping that it will be easier to write than this.


	11. Chapter 9: Attack!

**Author's Preliminary Note (Again):** Once again, guys, my bad on not getting this updated on time. In the end, I simply decided to take a break for the week, trying to focus on more pressing things I had to do. I'm feeling better now, in case you were wondering about my health, but geez, this was not a fun virus to go through. I'm not going into depth, not gonna bore you or gross you out with details.

I will tell you one of the main reasons I've been busy is a good surprise for some of you readers, and when I'm done with it, I'll be sharing that with you, so stay tuned next Sunday when I will, hopefully, upload another chapter. Just be sure to note that there are no promises at this point. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

 **Chapter 9: ATTACK!** **Aileen**

The Splatoon exited the building, entering the alleyway behind it. Looking both directions confirmed they are alone.

Four ran to the end of the street, took a look to the left around the building, and quickly flattened herself along the wall, out of sight of whatever was on the other side. The rest of the group ran up to her.

"I saw a patrol," she said when they get to her.

"Really? Lemme see." Eight shoved by and peeked around the corner. "Yup, just as Aileen said."

"Code names," hissed Marie.

Eight just rolled her eyes. "Sorry, Agent A. Better?"

"Yes, very much so."

"Anyways, it's just as Agent A said, the numbers all match up perfectly."

"What, did you not believe me?" Aileen inquired.

"What? No, I never said that-"

"Yeah, directly. Your tone, though, said otherwise."

"Psh, whatever. Just because my tone said one thing doesn't mean that's what I meant."

"I am aware of that, but knowing you, you meant what your tone gave away."

"Okay, you know what? I didn't believe you, happy?"

"No, but that'll have to do."

"What more do you want?"

"Respect. And frankly, you seem to not give a shit what I say."

"Respect? Why would I give you respect?"

"I'll let you think about that for a minute." She paused, but Eight said nothing. "Alright, what rank are you in the Octarian army?"

"I don't know, I don't remember anything from my life in the army."

"Well, judging by your uniform, I'd say you're a Sergeant, while I'm an Agent, making me higher ranking than you."

"Do I look like I care? Our old ranks don't matter anymore, we don't work for the Octarian army! That makes me your superior since I've been in the Splatoon longer."

"And I'm your superior," Cuttlefish interrupted. "And you two fighting isn't getting us anywhere. Am I clear?"

"Yessir," the two girls said in unison.

"Good. Now, I want Agent 2 and Agent A to get on top of these buildings and take out the regulars."

"Sounds good," Aileen said, grabbing hold of a ladder on a building and hoisting herself up, Charger slung over her back. Marie followed suit.

Once at the top, the two edged towards the ledge overlooking the street in front of the building. Below they see a patrol, consisting of the exact number of regulars, Octolings, Elites, Octobombers, and Twintacles.

"I'll get the one on the left," Aileen whispered to Marie, motioning to a regular on the left side of the group. "You got the one on the right."

"Sounds good," Marie whispered back. "On the count of three then?"

"Yup."

"One." The girls lined up their sights.

"Two." Their fingers itched on the trigger, ready for the ink burst.

"Three." They exhaled, keeping themselves steady.

"Fire!" They pulled the trigger and two bursts of ink silently flew to the patrol, hitting the regulars straight in the head, instantly splatting them.

"Ambush!" one of the Elites shouted, and the rest of the group took their stances, with one weapon pointing in every possible position.

At that moment, a long trail of ink was sprayed from the alley, and an object could be seen swimming through it. Out popped Josiah, right in front of the Twintacle. He quickly charged a shot and unloaded it, catching him off guard, another splat down.

Callie, Kevin, Pearl, and Eight then charged at the Octolings while Josiah dodged shots of ink. One of them glanced across his right cheek, leaving a deep cut that bled green. He did nothing about it, but rather fired shots at the Octolings to protect himself to the best of his ability. Eight tackled an Octoling while she was firing at Josiah, knocking her over. The two threw punches and rolled along the ground while Aileen sniped the Octobomber and Four, along with Marina, charged the Elites. Soon, all that were left were Eight and the one Octoling rolling on the ground. Bodies of the fallen patrol members were scattered about in pools of ink.

Eventually, Eight managed to get herself on top of the Octoling and got a hand free long enough to grab one of her Dualies and fired point-blank at the Octoling's head, finishing her. She then got up, panting.

"Nice work, Agents," said Cuttlefish over their headsets. "Come back to base, w get cleaned up. I think that may be enough for today. We need more planning."

"Roger," said Josiah, struggling to keep a hand clamped over his cheek and lug his Splatling with him. Instead, he resorted to dragging it with one arm, specifically the mechanical one, as it was stronger.

"Josiah!" Aileen exclaimed when she saw his hand clamped over his face, green ink seeping under. "Your face!"

"Nothing I can't handle," he replied. "I've dealt with worse back on the farm, remember?"

"Yeah, but still, I need to take a look at it."

"Let's get inside first, okay?"

"Okay."

The two followed the rest of the Splatoon back into the building, heading down to the meeting room. Josiah hung up his weapon, realizing that he hadn't used a single sub weapon. He shrugged it off.

Aileen hung her weapon up and then walked over to Josiah, a medkit in her hand.

"Well, you gonna move your hand or not?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah…" Josiah took his hand off his face, revealing a gash that extended a good few inches from just above his mouth to his ear. Not only that, but it was pretty deep, too.

"Ooh, that's bad, hang on." She pulled out some gauze and pressed hard on his face. "Apply pressure here," she commanded, and he put pressure on the gauze wad. While he pressed, she got a bandage out of the kit.

Meanwhile, Cuttlefish was preparing to make note of the next move they were to make. "Attention, Agents," he said after a little thinking. The Agents took a seat, ready to hear what he had to say. "Nice work out there, but it looks like more help wouldn't be a bad idea. This way we're able to launch a full-scale battle rather than these little attacks, because although we'll get somewhere with them, it will take a lot longer to succeed. So, with that in mind, anybody know where we can get some help?"

The group was silent, everybody shaking their heads. Everyone except Aileen and Josiah, that is.

"Aileen, don't-" Josiah started, but she cut him off.

"We've got some friends back in the County."

"The County?" asked Callie. "That's where Marie and I grew up, I didn't know you two were from there."

"I try to not make a point of it," said Josiah through clenched teeth, glaring at Aileen.

"Josiah, this is our only option by the looks of it! Move your hand, let me put the bandage on now." He moved his hand, allowing her to put the bandage on. He winced as she slapped it to make it stick well. "There. Now back to the planning."

"You say you have more friends we could recruit?" Cuttlefish inquired them.

"Yeah, we'd have to figure out how to get out of the city though."

"You, Eight and I are Octolings," Marina said. "And you've already managed to break out one person in an army uniform, perhaps we could pretend to be escorting some prisoners to a high-security facility or something like that."

"That would work on the way out, but how do we get them back into the city?"

"Same deal, really. You could've spotted them running away from the city, escaping."

"Well then. Do you and Eight have uniforms?"

"No…"

"Wait, I do," said Eight. "You've seen me wearing it."

"Oh, right! Looks like I'll stay here then while you two do this."

"Alright. We'll need a truck, though. Then, we'll need handcuffs and the Eel Bracelet."

"Eel Bracelet?" inquired Pearl. "Sounds bad."

"Oh, it is. Basically, it's to keep you from shifting from bipedal to your basic form by administering a shock whenever you attempt to shift. Kevin here knows about that."

"Yeah, and I'd rather not wear it again."

"Kevin, this is to get us out of the city to get more help, you're kind of important."

"No, Aileen. These are your friends, these are Josiah's friends. I don't know them at all, it's you two. Eight's only going for support. I'm not needed."

"It'll be more convincing the more prisoners we have. Would you say transferring one prisoner at a time outside of the city would be more convincing than, say, three or four?"

"No…"

"My point exactly. We _do_ need you."

Kevin sighed. "I guess I have no choice, but I demand that the Eel Bracelet is _off_ at all times, or better yet, not functional."

"I can work with that."

"So, what do we do when we're out of Inkopolis?" Josiah asked.

"We get our friends, duh."

"That's not what I meant, Aileen. I was meaning, who specifically do we get, and where do we head first?"

"Well, you're not gonna like this, but I was thinking…"

"What?" Josiah demanded, his voice slightly upset.

"We need to get Eric first."

"Oh no. No, no, no, no, NO."

"Josiah, it's our only option."

"Anything but that, please."

"There's nothing else to do!"

Josiah hung his head. "Alright, then...let's do it."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 _What is Josiah's problem with Eric? Why does he not make it a point to tell people he grew up in the County? What's his problem?_

Well, again, I really apologize for not uploading, although I'm not sure if any of you actively read my story, so maybe you don't care, I really dunno. Anyways, you may have noticed that I uploaded _two_ chapters today. Surprise! I decided that I wanted to write some backstory, but didn't want to upload it as a single chapter but rather piggyback it on the previous one. That way, you're getting a constant flow of story line.

Thanks for the support and leave a review if you like!


	12. Chapter 10: Return to Calamari

**Chapter 10: Return to Calamari**

 **Josiah**

I sit there in disapproval of Aileen's plan, arms crossed. "You gotta be kidding me," I mutter.

"Josiah, it's the only plan." Aileen stares me right in the eyes.

"Really? Do we need him?"

"Josiah, why are you so against Eric? What did he do?"

"You know pretty damn well why I don't want him on this!"

"Why, because he's annoying?"

"Yes! He is a massive pain in the ass, I don't want to have to deal with that!"

"Like I said, it's the only plan."

"Really? Why can't we get somebody like Zana or Scratch, huh? Use them instead?"

"I never said we couldn't use them, but we also need Eric, Josiah. He's worth more than you realize."

"Aileen, why do we need him? He's not worth anything for this team!"

"Yes he is!"

"Really? I don't hear any reasoning. What's he worth? What'll he bring to the team?"

"Josiah, I-"

"Answer the fucking question!" I slam my fist on the table, and Aileen jumps back, fear in her eyes. Instantly, I'm filled with regret. "Sorry, I didn't mean to explode. This is extremely stressful for me. But please, answer the question, Aileen. I don't want to bring an annoying prick onto the team unless he's worth it."

"Look at it this way, Josiah. He's your brother. How do you think he'd feel knowing you grabbed your friends from the County to help and simply left him behind?"

"Do I look like I care?"

"No, you don't. But his skill with bombs, Josiah. He's probably the greatest with bombs that you and I know of. He's fast. He's smart."

Josiah snorted. "Smart? He's probably as smart as that tree in my backyard."

"Josiah, it's chosen, we're getting him."

"Since when have you been in charge?"

"I could ask the same about you! You don't have the right to dictate this!"

"Okay, you know what? Let's also bring up the fact that maybe I don't want to go back to the County to begin with!"

"I probably want to go less than you! That's where all those bad memories came from!"

"I have bad memories of that place too, you know."

"Mine are much worse and you know it! Me, at five years old, scared for my life. Your family taking me in for a few months, all the while protecting me from that man!"

"Uh, sorry, but what man?" Callie looked at us with a confused look on her face.

"Long story, Callie. We'll tell you later."

"Aileen, I understand how you feel. That was hard for me, too. All the more reason to stay here!"

"Think of some other plan and we'll go with it. But you're too caught up in your own selfish thoughts to care what's best for the team."

I sit there and think for a minute. "You know what? You're right. I'm being selfish."

"You think I don't fucking know that!?"

Now it's my turn to be shocked. Aileen never uses language like that, even if she's upset. I try to shrug it off and continue. "I-I'm sorry for being selfish, okay? That doesn't take away from the fact that I don't want to go through with this plan, though."

"Thank you for finally agreeing with me on this."

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Can we just get on with the plan now?"

* * *

"So, that covers it?" Aileen finishes typing up a document on her phone.

"Yes, that should be all," says Cuttlefish.

Basically, the plan was for Aileen to get a transport truck, load me and Kevin into it, and go out the checkpoint at the edge of the city. Eight was going to be in the cab with her, since two Octolings carrying prisoners was more likely to get through than a single Octoling. All this time, Marina would be keeping the hypnoshades off so Aileen and Eight could wear them for the complete uniform. Currently, she was on her laptop, which she had found hidden in her lab somewhere.

"Alright. I'll go get changed and get that truck. If I'm not back in, say, 2 hours, come look for me, okay?" Aileen stands up and heads towards the ladder.

"Aileen, wait." I get up and put my hands on her shoulders, looking directly into her eyes. "I'm really sorry for exploding on you earlier. I'm already under enough stress as it is, and you suggesting Eric just made me burst."

"I-it's okay, Josiah," she replies, looking away. I could tell she still wasn't okay with it, but there wasn't much I could do right now. "I'm also real sorry for exploding as well."

"Uh, yeah, a real surprise for sure. Since when have you used that language?"

"First time." She pauses. "I'm gonna go get that truck now, okay?"

"Aileen. Come back to me. I know the risk of getting caught is low, but if you don't come back, I don't know what I'll do. I lost you once, I'm not gonna lose you again."

"I'll be fine, you know I can handle it." She playfully hits me. "And I love you too, Josiah." She suddenly leaned in and we share a brief kiss. "Alright, I need to go now," she says after we break apart. "I'll be back soon!" With a wave, she climbs up the ladder and disappears.

I smile for a second, but it's wiped off nearly immediately by Eight.

"Ugh, get a room you two!" she called.

"Aw, you're just jealous you don't have a boyfriend." Her face turns red.

"No I'm not!"

"Either way, we just kissed, you got a problem with that?"

"Yeah! Public affection is just, ugh." She mimics gagging.

"Whatever," I shrug it off. I don't have the energy to deal with Eight right now.

"So, what do we do while waiting?" Kevin looks bored.

"Anybody got games or something?" Marina suggests.

"No, they're back at my house," I say. "And I'm certain we don't have any here."

"Anything else to do?"

"Music time!" Pearl shouts and pulls out a speaker, blasting her music out of it. I chuckle and sit back, awaiting Aileen's return.

* * *

It's been two hours. Aileen's nowhere to be seen. I'm pacing the floor in a panic as thoughts fill my head. 'What if she was captured? What if they splatted her on sight? What if we can't rescue her now?'

Elaine walks over and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Hey," she says. "Calm down. Aileen's a tough girl, I'm sure she's fine, just…running a bit late."

"Aileen's never late," I counter, pushing her hand off. "This isn't like her at all, Elaine, and you know that. Stop lying to me and yourself."

"Josiah, you can't just give up hope."

"Is that what it looks like I'm doing!? I'm trying to keep my hope! Aileen's never late, she's always much earlier than expected, and here you expect me to not panic?"

"Did I say that?"

"You certainly meant it."

"I didn't me-"

"Elaine, please. I already exploded earlier, and I'm getting to the end of my fuse. You are not helping."

"Josiah-"

"What the hell did I just say!?" I sigh. "I'm going outside."

"Agent J, it isn't safe-"

I cut Cuttlefish off. "I don't care, I can't be down here any longer." Ignoring his protests, I exit the building and head out to the back alley. "Ugh, why am I like this!?" I scream, kicking trash around. "I can't contain myself, I blow whenever I get the tiniest bit upset. Why did I think I could handle this whole thing? Augh, I'm such a dumbass!"

"Yup, you are."

I jump and look over and see Aileen walking up to me in her army uniform. "Don't scare me like that!"

Aileen attempts to hold back a laugh, but I can tell. "Sorry, you just look really funny when upset like that."

"Haha, very funny. Where the hell were you? You're late."

"Sorry, had a bit of trouble getting past my dad. In the end I spilled everything, and he promised to keep it to himself."

"You told him everything? Do you not realize how secretive this is!? We can't risk telling anybody, Aileen! Who knows, maybe he'll go straight to the authorities and report us!"

"Josiah, have you really not seen my dad in so long you forgot how he acts? He would never do something like that. Remember we can be splatted if we're caught doing this. There is no force that could ever compel him to get me killed."

"I hope you're right. Now, you got the truck, right?"

"Yeah, parked it about a block away. Got a few pairs of Eel Bracelets here, too." She reached into a pack on her back and pulled out the bracelets. "I fully disabled them, so don't worry about them shocking you." She hands one to me, and I put it on.

"We should get to the rest of the team," I say and head towards the door. Before I make it, though, Aileen grabs my wrist.

"Josiah," she says, looking up at me. "I know this has been hard. It's been hard for me, too. But you gotta keep it together, okay? You exploding and shit is not good for the team, so try to keep yourself contained, alright? Don't forget I'm here for you. You can tell me everything. Remember that."

"I will, Aileen. And really, I'm truly sorry for how I've been acting lately, there's just so much going on my brain can hardly keep up with it all. And then you being late scared me half to death, hence why you saw me kicking stuff around out here in a rage."

"Kinda gathered that myself. Anyways, let's go back inside now. Sound good?"

"Yep, after you." She walks in and heads back to the room, and I follow closely behind. When we arrive, we give Kevin and Brianna their Eel Bracelets.

"Oh, don't forget!" Cuttlefish said as we were leaving. "You cannot wear your Hero Suits out there if you're gonna escape. That would be too suspicious."

"Thanks for the reminder, Cap," I say, and I remove the uniform, leaving it on the table. Brianna and Kevin do the same. With that, we head out.

When we get to the street, it's time for Eight and Aileen to put on the act of soldiers. This in mind, the walk to the truck is not the most pleasant, as they keep jabbing us with their weapons and yelling "Move!" and "Don't stop!" at us. Finally, though, we arrive, and they toss us in the back. The doors shut, and we hear the cab doors open and close. Aileen opens a small window connecting the cab and the back prisoner area.

"Sorry about being rough on you guys," she says, and from the expression on her face, I can tell she regrets harming us.

"I'm not!" Eight calls.

"It's fine, Aileen, nothing a few days should heal up. And I expected that from you, Eight!"

Aileen shuts the window and starts up the truck. I feel us drive away.

* * *

Maybe 30 minutes later, the truck stops. I hear muffled voices talking on the other side, and glancing through the tiny window reveals that we're at the checkpoint set up outside the city. It seems like a typical checkpoint, not unlike a toll road. There's a male Octoling talking with Aileen and Eight in some language I can't understand, with Octarian being the best possibility.

The guard soon walks away from them and we hear the back of the truck open up. I whirl around and see him standing there, arms crossed.

"You there!" He points at me.

"Yes?" I reply, attempting to not charge at him.

"What are you here for?"

"I disturbed a patrol, sir."

The man then looks at Brianna. "And you?"

"I was with him." She has a look of terror on her face, certain she's going to be caught.

"And so was he," I say, motioning towards Kevin.

The man nods and shuts the door. I return my attention to the window and see him walk back up to Aileen, handing her a green card. He then says something, salutes and heads back into the shack. Aileen steps on the gas and we drive through the gate.

"We- we did it!?" Brianna looks extremely relieved.

"Yeah, guess these Octarians are either stupid or we're good actors. Preferably the latter."

"Pff, you're okay," Kevin says, doing a so-so motion with his hand. "Could totally use some work though."

We snicker, and I open the window up so we can talk to Aileen. I notice she has her glasses off now, along with Eight. Up ahead, I see an on-ramp to the highway, which Aileen heads towards.

"We made it," I say.

"What, didn't trust in Eight and I?" Aileen replies, eyes still on the road ahead.

"Nah, I knew you guys were good. Brianna here was sweating buckets though. She was quite nervous, I'd say."

"No I wasn't!" Brianna protests.

"Sure you weren't," I shoot back. I then look at the green card Aileen's holding between her fingers. "So what the hell is that?"

"The green card?"

"Yeah."

"It's a pass to get back into the city. They won't even check the truck if I show this to them."

"Huh, how convenient."

"I know, right?"

"Well, you two have fun up here. Don't tear each other's throats out while I'm back here, okay?"

"Haha," Eight sarcastically laughs. "As long as she doesn't piss me off. Otherwise, no promises."

"Eight, if you kill her, you'll be next."

"I never said I'd kill her, now did I?"

"No you didn't, but you certainly wouldn't care if you did."

"You're right, I wouldn't."

"If you two don't knock it off, I'm turning this truck around," Aileen firmly says.

"Uh, no need for that," I say, shutting the window. "Hey, you guys want to watch a movie?" I ask.

"Heck, why not?" Brianna gets up, swaying slightly with the motion of the truck, and slowly makes her way over to me. Kevin, being a bit smarter, crawls.

"Whatcha got?" he asks me.

"Well, let's see here…" I pull out my phone and list off some 20 movies, including some super hero, sci-fi, and comedy.

"Always wanted to see this," Brianna says, pointing to a comedy.

"Kevin, you good with that?"

"Eh, why not?"

I tap on the movie and sit back.

* * *

The truck stops abruptly, jolting me awake. It's dark, and checking my phone reveals that it's now 10 at night, whereas it had been around 5 when we left the city. Brianna, asleep on my right shoulder, begins to stir a little.

I hear the two cab doors open and close, and momentarily, the back door is flung open.

"Welcome to Calamari County!" Aileen announces in a strong country accent.

"Hmm? Wha?" Brianna opens her eyes and gets up, a bit of drool hanging out of her mouth. She yawns and stretches, not even noticing that she had been sleeping on me. "We're here?"

"Yep!"

Eight walks up to us and shakes Kevin violently. "Wake up!" she yells in his ear.

Kevin jumps up, throwing punches at the air. "Who's there!?"

Eight bursts into laughter. "You should've seen your face!" she said between laughs.

"Yeah, that was soooo funny."

"It really was!"

"Ugh." Kevin shrugs it off for now. "I gather we have arrived at our destination?"

"Yep, we have," I say. I hop out of the truck and look around.

We're parked off to the side of a small gravel road. In front of the truck, maybe a couple hundred feet, is a log house with a pickup and minivan parked out front. There's some light shining through the windows. My old home.

"Cod, it's been a long time," I mutter to myself.

"Yeah, it really has," Aileen agrees.

I slowly walk up to the house, pausing before reaching the porch. Aileen and the others pass me, gathering in front of the door.

"Josiah?" Aileen motions me forward. "It's your house."

"Ugh, okay." I walk up to the door, hand ready to knock. Right before I knock, though, I freeze. "Aileen, no. I don't want this. I can't go back."

"Fine, then I'll do it for you." Before I have a chance to protest, Aileen's fist collides with the door.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Another chapter done, and hey, it's on time this time! What a surprise! Thanks for your ever-growing support, it's really great to see people enjoying my work. Never in my life have I shared something like this with random people on the Internet, and it actually feels...good. Like, surprisingly so.

Also, for those of you wondering, the prisoner transport trucks are supposed to be based on typical U-Haul trucks, just a normal box truck, although these are painted black. I probably should've clarified that...guess that'll be something to mark for the rewriting of it.

Anyways, thanks again for reading, and stay tuned for the next chapter, coming to a Sunday near you! _(God, that sounded awful)_


	13. Chapter 11: Family Gathering

**Shana**

Shana sprinted down the hallway, shoving by any Octarian in her way. Papers with extremely urgent information filled her arms, and she tried her best to keep a grip on them all.

She finally reached the end, panting. Directly in front of her were the doors to their king's chambers, Lord Octopin. She quickly recomposed herself, and then pressed the bell beside the door, alerting Octopin to her presence.

"Come in," a scratchy voice sounded from the speaker on the bell. Shana pushed open the doors and walked into the room.

The room was quite large for an underground facility. The walls were painted a deep red, and most held bookshelves full of books, most being history or records. Right smack in the middle of the room was a large desk, at which sat a massive male Octoling. If Octavio looked big, this guy easily dwarfed him.

Shana ran up to the desk and quickly bowed. "Lord Octopin," she said. "I bring word of an attacked patrol."

"Oh?" Octopin replied, taking the papers she held. "When and where did this happen?"

"Just yesterday, sir, and not too far from Inkopolis Square."

"Is there an exact time?"

"No, sir. We only found the bodies of the patrol members, nobody survived to report it either as it was happening or immediately after."

"I see. What do you think on this?" He set the papers down on his desk after a quick scan of them. He'd return to them later for a more detailed review.

"You want my opinion?" Shana seemed surprised.

"Yes, do you have a problem with it?"

"No, sir, it's just that I'm not really involved in the matter, and yet you prefer to ask my opinion when it doesn't seem to matter."

"I like to take opinions on such subjects. And I'd say you're quite involved in this, since you delivered the news to me."

"Well, sir, I consider this an honor. Personally, I think that the rebellion reported earlier is behind this. Who else could it be? And it seems like they're currently resorting to small patrols. Why? I'm not too sure, but I'm sure we'll know soon enough."

"I gathered as such. What do you think we should do about this?"

"Remember that I had suggested we force the Inklings to be one controlled color? I think we should make pushing that law our priority."

"Very good, I shall get my law enforcement officers on that. Anything else?"

"I do believe having some Agents investigate further on this matter a good idea, we don't want to simply push this law that may be avoidable if one does not want to follow it."

"Done. Thank you for your suggestions."

"Anything for you, sir." Shana bowed once more. She turned to leave.

"Oh, one more thing," Octopin said, interrupting her exit. "What do you think about me putting Agent Marso on this? From what I hear the other Agents say, she is one of the best, and I believe that the best should be on this."

"Aileen? Yeah, I'd say that's a good idea. I'll contact her and deliver her the news, sound good?"

"Yes. You may go now if it pleases you. Thank you for your information."

"Yes sir. Thank you, sir." Shana continued out of the room, the doors closing silently behind her.

Back in the room, Octopin threw his papers off the desk in anger.

"Damned Inklings!" he shouted, slamming one of his tentacles on the desk. "Think they still own the city, ha. Why do they resist? We lead them well enough, far better than they treated us. Perhaps I should force stricter laws on them…" He sighed and began picking the papers off the floor. "I guess we can wait a bit, see if this works. But if not…"

* * *

Back in Calamari County, inside of the prisoner truck, Aileen's glasses began vibrating. The display on the lense read out "Incoming call: Shana." Unfortunately, she was not there to answer, leaving her friend and former commander in confusion and disbelief.

'Nobody, especially Aileen, ignores calls,' Shana thought back at HQ after hanging up with no answer. Worried her friend was in danger, she quickly sent a signal to the glasses requesting a location. Within seconds it came back.

"What the hell?" Shana exclaimed, staring at the screen on her glasses in disbelief. "What is she doing in Calamari County?"

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Family Gathering**

 **Josiah**

* * *

"Aileen, wait!" I shout, but it's too late. Aileen's hand already made contact with the door, letting out a loud knock. "Augh, why did you do that!?"

"One, like I said and we agreed on, we need to get Eric. Second, it's for your own good. You haven't talked to your family in over 3 years, it's about time you visited again."

"I just-"

The door opening cut me off. I look over and see a red-tentacled inkling standing there, wearing a straw hat, a plaid button-up shirt, and a pair of jeans, the farm look completed by a pair of work-boots. His eyes widened upon seeing me, and he smiled. "Well, if it ain't Josiah, come back from the city!" He says in a thick country accent. He then walks over to me and pulls me into a tight hug. "I haven't seen ya 'round these parts for, what's it been, three years?"

"Um, yep, 3 years," I reply, trying to get free from his embrace. "Eric, will you please let me go?"

He lets me go and looks around with a bit of a confused look on his face. Obviously, he was wondering what me, Aileen, and two other Oceanics he had never seen before were doing on his front porch.

"Guys," I say, motioning towards Eric. "This is my twin brother, Eric. Mind you, I am the older of the two."

"Only by a minute," Eric protests.

"And that minute makes the difference. Anyways, Eric, you already know Aileen, and these two are Kevin and Eight."

"Friends of yours?"

"Kevin is. Eight? No. The exact opposite of a friend, I'll tell you what."

"And for good reason!" Eight retorts, eyes narrow.

"It seems she doesn't like ya," Eric says sarcastically.

"And I don't like her back, your point?"

"I'm just wondering what kind of reasoning is behind that."

"How could I like somebody as bitchy as her?"

"Woah, no need for insults." Eric looks back at Eight, who flips me off yet again. "No need for someone as perty as you to be rude," he says with a smile.

"W-what? You-"

"I'm just sayin'. You're just dirtyin' your looks that way."

Eight is speechless. I can't entirely tell what's going through her head, but it's along the lines of 'do I want to kill him or take his compliment?'

"Well, y'all wanna come inside? I'm sure there's plenty of a story to tell here."

We nod, and head inside. Eight, still struck by his comment, stands there looking at them in confusion, anger, I really can't tell. We leave her outside, and she joined us not too long after.

The first thing we see upon entering the house is a bit of an entryway hallway. The walls, painted a dull gray, have some pictures of various places around the farm and the family. There are surprisingly a few pictures with me still in them, considering the fact that I kinda abandoned my family. At the end of the hallway is an open room with a dining room table in the center with 6 chairs around it. To the left of that is a kitchen, and to the right of the dining room is a living room with a couch and two chairs facing a TV. There's a hallway branching off of the living room going back into the area where the bedrooms are.

"Please have a seat," Eric politely says, motioning towards the table. We each sit down, and he goes back towards the bedrooms.

"Well guys, welcome to my old house," I say. "The place hasn't changed much since I left, surprisingly." I look around, noticing a few minor differences, like a new rug on the floor in the living room or an extra picture or two here and there.

I hear footsteps walking up behind me, and when I turn around, I see a light-blue tentacled female Inkling in her early 40's. She wears pretty much the same clothing as Eric, just instead of boots, she wears sandals and a headband instead of a hat.

"J-Josiah?" she says, obviously in shock upon seeing me, her accent just as thick as Eric's. Eric stands over by the hallway, leaning up against the wall, arms crossed.

"Hi, Mom," I sigh. I get up, and she walks up to me and pulls me into a hug.

"Oh, I haven't seen you in forever! Where've you been, why haven't you visited us?"

"There are multiple reasons for that…"

My mom let me go and pushed me away, looking me up and down. Her eyes widened upon noticing my arm. "Y-your arm! What happened?" She grabbed it and held it up in front of her face.

"That's a long story that I'd rather not repeat twice, so if you get the rest of the family together, I'll explain."

"I…okay." She walks off towards the hallway again.

"You seem a bit disconnected," Kevin says, noticing my strange interaction.

"I practically disowned myself, of course I'm disconnected."

"Okay, sorry dude. Didn't mean to hit a sensitive spot."

"No, no, it's fine."

While I remain standing, the others remain sitting, everybody silent. Eric doesn't move an inch from where he's leaning against the wall, eyes scanning the room blankly.

"I'll beat you!" a young, loud voice calls from the hallway.

"No you won't!" a second replies. Two young Inklings come racing into the living room, one of them touching me and then pumping his fist in the air. His tentacles, a light blue, are cut roughly in the same do as mine. He's the younger of the two, coming in at 6 years old. The older, with yellow tentacles in the exact same do as his, is slightly older at 10.

"Ha, told you I'd beat you!" the younger says triumphantly.

"No fair, you had a head start!" the second pouts.

"Hey, hey, no need to fight," I say to them. They both immediately become silent and look at me.

"You're Josiah, right?" the younger of the two says.

I chuckle. "Been so long you don't recognize me, Corban?" I say. His eyes widen.

"What? How'd you know it was me?"

"Dude, I'd recognize you a mile away, you're too noticeable! Three years doesn't change a thing I see." I pull him into a hug. Even though I don't really care for my family as a whole that much, seeing the youngest always makes me happy. "How have you been?"

"It's been-" At this moment, he noticed my arm. "Woah, what happened to your arm? It's so cool!" He runs his hand up and down the plastic sheathing.

"Oh, that's a long story. I'll tell it when everybody gets out here. How about you sit on the couch and wait?"

"Okay!" He hopped onto the couch, patiently waiting, although I can tell by his face he really wants the story _now._ Almost enough to make me laugh out loud.

"That goes for you, too, Levi," I say to the older one.

"Aww, why won't you tell us now?" Levi complains.

"Because it's too long to repeat to Mom and Dad. I'd much rather say it once. Got it?"

"Fine," he grumbles and sits down by his brother.

At that moment, my dad walks into the room, followed closely by my mother.

"There ya are!" he calls and walks over to me, pulling me into a hug. "Wow, you're certainly much bigger than ya were when ya went off to the city."

"Um, yeah, I've grown in multiple ways."

"Yeah, not just body mass, you're a man now!"

"That's not what meant. I'll expla-" I count heads in the room. "Hang on, where's Scott?"

"He'll be in in just a minute, he was out cleanin' up the barn."

"Alright, cool, we'll wait."

"Why do you talk so funny?" Corban asked with a confused look on his face. I realize at that moment that I'm the only one out of the entire family that doesn't have a country accent, but rather more of a city one.

"Huh, didn't notice that. Guess I just lived in the city long to pick up the accent there."

"He's not the only one, my accent's gone, too," Aileen says.

Everybody looks over to the table, noticing the others for the first time.

"Aileen!" Corban cries, and jumps off the couch, running over to her to hug her.

"Good to see you again, too, Corban," she says.

"Wait, so you recognize her but not me?" I say, mock offence on my face.

"Well, I, uh-"

"Just messing with you, she hasn't changed much at all. Still looks pretty young." I then whisper in his ear loudly enough for Aileen to hear, "I don't think she's gotten older at all."

"I heard that!" Aileen says, swatting my arm.

"I'm just joking!"

"Sure you are."

"Mom, I'm finished outside, what-"

I turn around and see another Inkling, this one with yellow tentacles cut slightly short. He looks around the room, trying to put together what exactly was going on.

"Hello, Scott," I say, waving at him.

"Josiah? That you?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Scott fumbles with his words, just a few muttering noises coming out at first. Eventually, he manages to find his words. "What are you doing here? And Aileen, and…whoever those people are?"

"It's a long story," I say. "Everybody, sit down on the couch, I'll explain everything. Why I haven't visited in three years, why there are two random people here that you don't know, _everything."_

My family obeys, sitting down in the living room.

"Alright, go ahead," says Eric, looking directly at me. "I've been waitin' the longest, this better be good."

"Oh, believe me, it is. Let me go back to the beginning."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Alright, that's it, I'm revising the damn schedule. I've had enough of being late to update. I'm making it every _other_ Sunday now rather than once a week. Be aware, though, that I sadly will not be able to update potentially until the 28th. At the earliest, though, I will update the 16th. Spring break and all, I'm not going to have time to write on a vacation, you know.

Anyways, thank you all for your reviews and support. Please, though, I am running low on reviews and I'd love to know what I need to improve and what I have down. I'm trying to catch these things myself, but if you readers could give me a review, please do so, you have no idea how much they mean to me. The only rule I have for the review is that if you have criticism, there is a certain way to deliver it. I don't want to see instant hate and such, and if you are going to construct it that way, the least you could do is give me a positive remark first. So, that said, please leave a review, it means a lot. And be aware that what I don't fix yet may be fixed in the revised version. Think of this as my rough draft. It'll go through one or two revisions before making it to the final form in its full glory.

I'll see you sometime this month, so don't worry that I won't update at all!


	14. Chapter 12: History, Part 1

**Chapter 12: History, Part 1**

 **Josiah**

 **APN:** Okay, there's gonna be _a lot_ in this chapter that's gonna make you scratch your heads. Plenty of backstory, just you guys wait, I have a prequel in the works now that will address a lot of this chapter. This is basically the story of why Josiah was driven from his home, and it's a lot of memories really. Just please be patient with me, the prequel is coming in due time, and it will be sure to answer any questions here you'll have. Like what memories, why Aileen's tentacles are fucked up, ect. Also, Aileen has no family actually, she's an orphan who moved in with Josiah's family, although she was never officially adopted. Gonna need to fix that (and a lot of other shit) in the rewrite. Heads up, though, it's gonna be M rated, and the sequel will be too. Despite that, enjoy!

Oh, right, Josiah's narrating, sorta. Basically, this is him telling the story.

* * *

He jolted awake, jerking upright. That dream _again?_ What was this, the third time within the last week? He'd lost count. He rubbed his head. The room was still dark, he didn't need to be up for another couple hours.

He sighed and turned on the lamp sitting next to the bed, illuminating the room in a warm sunlike glow. His bed, centered on the wall opposite the door, was messy, showing signs of tossing and turning. To the left of his bed was a wall with a computer desk, where his laptop sat, meant for school work. Since they lived practically in the middle of nowhere, he did school online, on that old, busted-up laptop his dad gave him. It did the job, he realized, but he wished for something better.

To the right of his bed was a dresser, holding all his clothing, along with various other items. Directly to the left of that was a bookshelf full of old human books translated into Inklish, books for school, and a few objects of various value. Like, for instance, he had an old human baseball cap for some team called the Cardinals. That was priceless. A few other things included human CDs, a pistol of his own that he kept out at all times in case _that_ happened again, and a pair of expensive sunglasses.

He got up and walked over to the computer desk, opening the laptop and booting it up. The old thing took a good 2 minutes to boot, but when it does, the OS, a custom OS he built based on an old copy of Linux he found while researching human software, was quite fast. He looked around the room and noticed how messy it was. He needed to clean it up. He heard the boot-up sound play and returned his attention to the laptop. He pulled up his web browser and then directly to Glooga. He typed in "how to deal with bad memories," smashing enter. A few promising looking results popped up, and he clicked on the first one, a Squiddit post. He scanned it and got some decent information, writing it down on a notepad. He'd need this later.

After about 30 minutes researching and taking noted, he put the pad down and checked the time.

"Only 5 AM?" he exclaimed. "Ugh, of course it's that early." He knew he'd be unable to go back to sleep, that had always been a problem since this dream had sparked up. Instead, he snatched his phone and headphones, putting on some music.

He had put many, many human songs on there, along with songs by Oceanic bands, but he prefered the human music more. He settled on some electro swing and got to work tidying up the room, which was surprisingly messy for someone as neat as him. He hummed along to the music, unable to discern lyrics since it was in some human language rather than Inklish. Hell, he even knew a bit of Octarian, although not enough to survive. He laughed at that thought. At least he had Aileen.

"Josiah?" a female voice said from behind him while he was reorganizing his bookshelf. He turned around, taking the headphones off and putting them around his neck.

Standing in his doorway was his mother, an Inkling woman in her late 30's. Instead of her usual farm-style clothing, she wore a white robe. "What are you doing up so early?"

"I could ask the same about you," he snapped, returning to the bookshelf.

"Corban wouldn't go back to sleep. And look." She walked over to the bed, sitting down. "I know you haven't been the same since this whole ordeal, but that doesn't mean you can just shut yourself out, snap at people, and most importantly, curse."

"What, you have a problem with my mouth? I can't fucking swear? That's what you're saying? Of all the things to complain about, this is the stupidest I've heard."

"Josiah, please. Watch your mouth. This family is not a place for that kind of language."

"Fine, but when I leave today, I'm on my own, I can say whatever I want."

His mother sighed. "I am aware of that, but I encourage you to tone it down. You're hurt, I understand. But people aren't gonna want to be your friend-"

"Friends?" Josiah cut her off. "What makes you think I want friends? Maybe I actually want to be alone, did you think of that?"

"You need friends, Josiah. You need somebody there for you that'll keep you company, hang out with you."

"I have Aileen."

"Yes, you do, but there are things boys like that girls don't."

"I DON'T NEED FRIENDS!" He threw a book down on the floor that he had been holding, making a loud crash.

"Josiah, take a walk. Get out of the house, you need to release steam." She pointed out the door. "Out. Now."

"Fucking…" Josiah got up, put on a pair of shoes, and stormed out of the room. Before he left, he turned to his mom. "Do you not understand what I just went through? The whole ordeal here with that man harming Aileen, you seem to shrug it off. I don't know who she was before all those experiments, but I know that Aileen's never coming back. I feel as if you don't care."

"I don't care now? That's what you think? No, I do care. You just care too much."

"I care too much?! Are you serious right now?! You apparently _don't_ know what I just experienced. All the more reason I'll be happy to get the hell out of here later." He stormed off, heading out of the house.

Outside, he walked down the road outside his house, heading in no particular direction, wherever the dirt road headed.

Eventually, he heard somebody running up to him.

"Mom," he sighed. "Can I not just have some alone time?" He whirled around and instead of his mom, he saw Aileen running up, white and pink tentacles blowing in the wind. "Aileen, what are you doing out here?" he asked.

"I could ask the same about you," she said with a smirk.

"Couldn't sleep."

"That dream again?"

"Yeh…"

"Look, you don't have to worry about me anymore. What happened is now in the past, it's all good again."

"I have two reasons it's not all good. One, your personality I'm 100 percent positive is not the same as before you were experimented on and tortured."

"You're not wrong, I've matured."

"In more than one way…"

Aileen shuddered. "Yeah, ignore that, you know we don't mention him. But what's the second?"

"You're probably not as pretty."

"W-what?"

"You heard me. I mean, your tentacles are unique they add a lot to you. But torture and all does stuff to you. You're pretty, but imagine how much more so you'd be were it not for that bastard."

"Y…"

"What?"

"You think I'm pretty?"

"Uh, yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"Because I'm not. The major thing being my tentacles. But...I'm pale, I'm skinny why would you think I'm pretty?"

"Because you are. And like I said, the tentacles make you _really_ pretty. They're so different."

"You're one to talk, I'd say black is a more unique than pink and white."

"Well, if you think that, just dye them when we get to Inkopolis. And remember that I can change my colors."

"Yeah…" She twirled one around her finger.

The two walked in silence for a while, and eventually, they made their way back, talking about things like what there is to do in Inkopolis, their plans for when they get there, and so on.

It was roughly 7 when they got back.

Josiah walked into the kitchen to the smell of eggs cooking, while Aileen went back to the bedrooms.

"Well?" his mother asked, flipping an egg over. "How was the walk?"

"Good, really. Pretty relaxing."

"That's good. How about Aileen? Was I right in sending her out there too?"

"You did that?"

"Yep."

"Well, yeah, I think we helped each other. She helped me calm down, I helped her confidence."

"Really now? Glad to hear that."

Josiah sat down at the table, slouching down with a loud sigh. He'd never return to the County, he swore. Too many bad memories, and what that man did to Aileen, they were all too much for him to handle. The pain of seeing his friend go through so much pain, so much hurt, just made him go crazy.

His mom set a plate of eggs down in front of him, and he smiled. He ate them, letting the flavor spread through his mouth, making him warm. It was good to take his mind off of his current troubles.

Aileen wandered in the kitchen soon after, a towel wrapped around her head. She sat down as well, eating her food in silence.

"So, Aileen," his mom said after a while. "Excited to get to Inkopolis?"

"You bet!" she replied, face lit up instantly. "So many new experiences, people to meet, things to do…"

"Sounds like you'll have a good time."

"I'm hoping to."

"Shouldn't you two pack?"

"Hmm, yeah, good idea. Come on, Josiah, we gotta pack our stuff!"

He got up from the table with a sigh and walked upstairs. He'd rather not pack, just go. Head off with nothing, see where he went from there. But he knew that if his parents didn't force him to bring anything, Aileen certainly would. He'd saved her life multiple times, she wasn't gonna allow him to do that to himself.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Josiah and Aileen stood on a train platform, each with a typical 65 liter hiking pack on their backs. His father had gotten them for their journey to Inkopolis.

Around them was the family. His mother was holding a young Inkling boy with light blue tentacles, only 3 years old. He was looking at the trains around them, happily pointing around.

"Train! Train!" he said with a big smile.

"Yeah, Corban, a train," Aileen replied.

Corban giggled as one started driving away.

"Are you gonna be coming back?" asked Levi, 7 years old at the time.

"I don't know," Josiah responded. "I do know that I'll get you guys to at least come visit me though."

"That would be pretty cool," said Scott, who was currently 10.

Eric, who was 14 like Josiah, walked up to him. "Gonna miss ya, man," he said, pulling him into a bro hug.

"Mmf, Eric, can't breathe!" Josiah cried, gasping for air. Eric released him.

"Sorry, heh."

"Son," Josiah's dad said, walking up, placing his hands on his shoulders. "You're a good person, I think you have a good life set up for you. I wish the reasons for you leaving were better, but it is what it is. I want to warn you, though. Don't step out of line, you have your morales set, don't change them. You understand what I mean, don't go looking for the red-light zone of Inkopolis just because you can. I don't want you caught up in any of that. And take care of Aileen."

"Dad, you know I'm not gonna do any of that, and I've protected Aileen from far worse than a city. But thanks, I'll remember what you said."

"Good. Now, get your ass on that train, I don't want you to miss it."

Josiah smiled and gave each member in his family another hug. He stepped onto the train with Aileen following beside him. They sat down in their seats. Josiah looked out his window and saw his family staring back at him. He waved, and they waved back. Josiah smiled sadly as he thought about how he was never coming back. The thoughts filled his head as the train pulled away from the station.

"Well…" Aileen started. "Here we are. Barely even teenagers, starting a life like adults. Gotta take care of ourselves, get a job, find a house…"

"Heh, yeah. At least we're not alone."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We've got each other. You've got me, I've got you. No need for friends on the other side of the journey, they won't understand what we've been through."

"Which is why we don't tell them."

"Wait, why?"

"Do you really want that? For them to constantly be worried you or I are gonna have a mental breakdown? Our past is too dark, we don't need anybody else to know."

"Then how will you explain your tentacles? Or your bullet scars? Or say you have a mental breakdown like you mentioned. All that, how will we explain it?"

"First off, you said I could dye my tentacles. Second, I have no plan showing anybody my side or shoulder. And third, I dunno. That's something we should figure out."

Josiah looked back out the train window, watching the countryside fly by his window. "I guess you're right."

Aileen smiled. "I like it when I'm right. Now, did you grab the Swap? I'd like to play some Mussel Kart."

"Ha, thought you would never ask." Josiah grabbed his bag from the rack above their head, pulling out the Splatendo Swap he had, setting it on the table in front of them. He also pulled out two controllers and booted the game up.

'Only two hours until our new life begins," he thought as he selected his kart. 'Might as well act like a kid for a little longer.' An idea popped into his head, but he pushed it back. He'd save it for later, after they made it into the city.

* * *

 **AN:** Sorry if this chapter is extremely confusing or such. Let me give a brief explanation that'll be expanded upon in the prequel and hinted at more in the rest of this story.

First, Aileen's an orphan Octoling girl who was adopted at age 8 (heh, completely coincidental there) by an Inkling man. He brought her to a research-style facility where he explained to her that Octolings were simply animals, and began experimenting on her. She escaped (chapter 1 of the prequel here, so I'm not spoiling anything), and was shot three times by a pistol. Josiah and his dad rescued her from death that day and the man never got over his loss. So, he hunted her. That's all I'm saying, just explaining some stuff. Also, this is the real reason Josiah left with Aileen, gonna need to rewrite this to match with the prequel.

Anyways, thanks for reading! I really love that you guys can read my story, makes me really happy.

Oh, one last thing. So, some of us writers are in a Discord server, right? And a few of us were like 'hey, we should make a one-shot collection.' So we are. I can't remember who's gonna post it, just stay tuned and I'll update you on it. I have literally no clue what I'll be writing, so don't expect one from me any time soon, ha. But it'll be a quick, easy way to see a variety of writers and see which ones you like. Don't forget to give them support!

Anyways, long AN, longer chapter, homework's a bitch, I'm fucking tired from vacation...I'll see you eventually.


	15. Chapter 13: History, Part 2

**Chapter 13: History, Part 2**

 **Josiah**

 **APN:** Yeah, yeah, Josiah's getting a really big spotlight. Don't worry, if you like the Aileen segments, she's up next. Just had to get some backstory out of the way.

Also, another change to my established canon, Josiah and Aileen were already dating when they got to Inkopolis. Yet another thing I'm gonna need to fix when rewriting this.

Oh, and stay tuned for the end of the chapter, I've got a couple things to say in the author's note.

Anyways, let's yeet on into it, shall we?

* * *

The train rode along smoothly, the countryside flying by outside the window. Aileen had decided after some time to pull out one of her books and give that a go while Josiah dozed beside her. She had a cup of tea sitting on the little table they had sat at, and was enjoying sips here and there while reading.

"Oops, sorry!" she heard a voice say sarcastically, knocking over her tea, spilling the hot beverage over the table and on her lap.

"Ack!" she groaned, jumping up in surprise, wincing as the steaming liquid ran down her pants. "Hot!" Aileen then looked up and saw a snickering Inkling walk away.

"Go home, Octoling," they laughed as they returned to their seat.

Aileen's hands involuntarily balled themselves into fists, her face a mix of pain, remembrance, and anger. "No, you go home!"

"I am!" they shot back.

"Well I am too!"

"Aileen," Josiah said, awoken by her sudden jumping up. That, and a bit of the tea had spilled onto his lap. "Just leave it, he's not worth it."

Her face softened. "You're right, I just...snapped…"

"Hey, it's fine, we all have moments like that. I think I would've socked that guy if I were you, if I'm being honest."

"Then let me, I can kick some ass."

Josiah laughed. "I know, I just don't want you hurting yourself if it isn't necessary."

She let her hands return to a normal extended state. "Alright," she grumbled. "I'm gonna go see about getting some towels." She walked off, grumbling about how she was certain she was burned.

Josiah sat back in his seat. After thinking for a moment, he stood up and walked over to the Inkling who had knocked the drink over.

"Hey," he said, walking up to him. "You got a problem with my friend there?"

"Dude, she's an Octoling, of course I do," the man responded.

"I don't understand why you need to treat her that way. They're just like us, only a few cosmetic and intelligence differences."

The man coughed. "The Great Turf War," he said between coughs, emphasizing his point.

"That was over a hundred years ago, I don't understand why people still use that as an excuse. She didn't fight in it, she doesn't need to pay for her grandparents' mistakes."

"You know what, I see that we disagree. So how about you go back to your girlfriend now and leave me be."

"Girlfriend? N-no, she's not-"

"Shoo. Begone. Get outta here."

Josiah's face turned red and he stalked off, ink boiling. Not only had the man burned Aileen, and to add insult to injury, in her lap of all places, but he had also shooed him away like a child.

Josiah plopped back down in his seat, and soon Aileen came back with some towels she had found in the dining car. She quickly wiped up the tea, then threw away the towels.

"How are your burns?" he asked.

"Could be better, but thankfully, they aren't that bad. It's a big one, though." She lifted her shirt slightly, showing a big red splotch disappearing under her shorts.

Josiah cringed. "Ouch, that must hurt."

"Oh, it does. I really, _really_ wanna sock that guy now. "

"I do too, if I'm being honest. I confronted him on it, but he shooed me away to return to my 'girlfriend,' he said."

"G-girlfriend, huh?"

"Yeah…"

"Ha, that's….that's funny." She turned red in the face and looked away, mumbling something.

"What was that?" Josiah asked, leaning over to hear better.

"I was...wondering if…" her voice trailed off, mumbling the rest of her sentence.

Josiah looked at her, curiosity in his eyes. "I still can't hear-"

She whirled around and kissed him, full on the lips. He was slightly surprised, but considering he'd had that happen before, he accepted it.

She broke apart and looked away, her face extremely red. "T-that's...what I was saying…"

Josiah smiled at her. "I was kinda gathering that, you're not the first to ask me that. And Aileen?"

"Y-yeah?" she turned around and looked at him.

"I accept."

"Y-you...what?"

"I said, I accept. Aileen, I've been thinking the same thing for some time. I was actually considering asking as soon as we got on the train, but I figured waiting a while would be better rather than to burden you with that right away, assuming you turned me down. First, that would've been a pretty shitty start to our trip. Second, I think you and I are stressed enough right now with other things. But I accept, and I'm glad you asked."

She stutters for a moment. "I just...w-wasn't sure, you'd...you know, accept me."

"Why?"

"First, I'm an-"

"Octoling, yes, I get that. But remember, I didn't even know what one was until I met you. I could give less of a shit about that."

"R-right, so that point's invalid now. But look at me. I'm flat, I'm pale, I'm generic. There are probably a million girls out there just like me, waiting for picking. Why me, of all of them?"

"I don't care about your looks, Aileen. And I think you're actually really cute. Your tentacles, the transition from pink to white is very unique. Your eyes, the emerald green they are, they're so amazing. But beneath that is the character. You're kind, caring, a really fun person to be around. You're an amazing influence, you're not crude unless you need to be, unlike me. I'm really certain you'll be an amazing companion for me."

She looked at him, processing all that he said. "I-"

Aileen was cut off by a tone sounding over the speakers. "Attention all passengers," said a voice. "We are on approach to Inkopolis Central Station. If this is your stop, please be ready to disembark the train quickly, as we are slightly behind schedule. Thank you."

"Well, that's us," Josiah said, standing up. "We can continue this conversation later."

Aileen nodded and got out of her seat, grabbing her backpack and standing by the door. Josiah shouldered his and stood beside her.

Soon, the train pulled into the station. The two fell over from the force of being stopped, falling into people around them.

"Sorry!" Josiah apologized, helping Aileen up.

"Stupid kids," some adult in the midst muttered.

The doors slid open, and the two hopped off the train, heading down the platform.

"Woah," exclaimed Josiah, taking in the view. The train station was massive, much bigger than any building he'd ever been in before. There were people _everywhere,_ huge masses of Oceanics, each moving seemingly in their own direction, pushing through the crowds.

"This place is huge!" Aileen cried.

"I...know…"

"How are we ever gonna find our way through this?!"

Josiah pulled out his phone. "So...we needed to get to...Inkopolis Plaza. That's where we'd find the Turf War games and a place to stay." He punched some information in and waited a second, the phone pulling up a map of the city. "It's telling us to find the...Turf Line, it's calling it. The color's white."

"Here's a sign, maybe it says where to go." Aileen walked over to a sign, looking it over. "Ah, here!" She pointed to a spot on it.

"Let's go, it says there are trains leaving every two minutes until 7."

The two pushed their way through the crowd, marveling at just how huge the train station was. Soon, they rived on the Turf Line platform, deep beneath the city. The train sped into the station, making Aileen's tentacles blow in her face. Josiah's, cut to where the left was longer than the right, blew around slightly, but still caused an annoyance.

"Looks like I may need a cut if I'm gonna be riding the train system often," he grumbled. Everybody around them entered the train, stuffing it nearly full.

"Should we...wait for the next one?" Aileen asked, seeing how full the train was.

Josiah glanced it over quickly. "Yeah, no room for us." He backed up against the wall to show the driver to continue on. The train doors slid shut, and it rode out of the station.

Josiah then inched back towards the tracks, being sure to stay behind the yellow caution line. He wasn't looking to get ran over.

Soon, another train entered, stopping to let others off. When the passengers finished disembarking, Josiah and Aileen stepped on board, finding two seats and sitting down.

"So...we'll take this for three stops, and we'll be there," he said, looking at his phone again.

"Ah, it'll be nice to be done with transit for the day. Two hours on a train can be tiring."

Josiah nodded. "I can't wait, soon we'll be up in an apartment, ready for our new life."

"Hey, back to what you were saying earlier…"

"What about it?"

"You...you're so nice to me. Why?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because I'm a failure. My parents abandoned me at 4, I was too weak to...save somebody I once knew…" She started to tear up.

"Wh- hey, don't cry," Josiah said, reaching over and grabbing her hand.

"S-sorry, it's just...she was the best friend I ever had...I...it was my fault she died, I should've fought that girl, not her…"

"Aileen, we all make mistakes, this-"

"Don't say that! I'm a failure, you and I both know that!"

"So you didn't save a friend's life. I didn't either, you saw what happened there. I should've taken the bullet for her and been done with it. But I didn't. You'll get nowhere in life by dwelling in the past."

"I...yeah, but…"

"Aileen, listen to me. You are not a failure. Your parents probably had a very good reason to leave you on that porch, they must've thought that you would have a better life there. You didn't save your friend, that's okay, she's probably in a better place now anyways."

"Yeah, well, what about that man? I was too weak to fight him off."

"Aileen, he was a threat to anybody who got in his way. There was nothing you could've done there either. Now look, you are not a failure, no matter how many times you say you are, you are wrong. And even if you are, I don't see you as one."

"So what? So fucking what?" Josiah winced, as she typically didn't swear that heavily unless severely provoked. "So you don't see me as a failure, I guess you're just blind then, huh? Because it's very obvious that I am a failure. Josiah, I am not good for anything in this world!"

"You are good for a lot of stuff, Aileen! You're smart, you're cute, you're kind. Those are really good qualities to have!"

She sat there for a moment, thinking things over. Josiah looked around and saw people staring at them. He gave a small smile and nervously waved.

"Josiah, I have nothing to my name. I'm just some Octoling who's been through hard times. Basically, any other Octoling."

"No, you've been through more than other Octolings, from what I know."

She glared at him. "That's not the point. The point is that we go through a lot. I...I should've just stayed back in the County, I don't belong here."

Josiah groaned. "Stop saying that, Aileen. Even if I can't convince you that you aren't a failure, at least stay here. Actually, it's too late to go back, we don't have any money. So stay, Aileen. Stay with me and add some flare to my life. Come with me and add that energy, that intelligence, the looks, all of that. Make my life complete, and I'll do the same."

She pondered this a bit. "Okay...I'll stay here with you."

Josiah smiled and leaned in for a kiss. She accepted, and the two locked lips.

"Awww," Josiah heard the group on the train say. His eyes flew open, and he broke the kiss up, shooting glares at people. "Yeah, yeah, we made up. Cute, huh? How about you just go back to your business now." The crowd murmured something and turned their attention to other things.

"The next station is Inkopolis Plaza," said an automated voice over the PA system. "Disembark here for Turf War games."

"That's us," Josiah said, standing up and walking over to the door. Aileen stood right beside him, this time holding on to a pipe beside the door, Josiah holding the one attached to the ceiling. The train came to a stop, the doors opening, revealing the Plaza.

"Woah…" Aileen exclaimed, mouth open wide. The two stood there for a second, gawking at the place.

"Are you two gonna keep staring or get off?" Josiah heard a voice say.

"Oh, sorry!" he apologized, grabbing Aileen's hand and jumping off the train.

"Hmf," the Inkling huffed, walking past them.

"So...this is it."

"Y-yeah, it is," Aileen stuttered. "Oh, Josiah, I'm so nervous! I feel as if we bit off more than we could chew with this. We don't even know what to do!"

"Well, let's go ask somebody for help, that's a place to start."

Aileen nodded, and Josiah walked off towards the Plaza. He spotted an Inkling girl who appeared to be a couple years older than him, and he approached her. Her tentacles were yellow, sparking something in Aileen's memories.

"Uh, excuse me," he said, grabbing her attention.

The girl turned around. "Yeah?"Aileen swore she recognized the girl from somewhere, but she couldn't figure it out.

"We're kinda new here, could you help us out?"

The girl looked over at Aileen. "No."

"W-what?"

"I can help you. Not _it."_

"Excuse me? That's my girlfriend, do not talk to her like that!"

The girl burst into laughter. "You're dating an Octoling?! Just when I thought I had seen everything!" She turned to a little group of squids a couple feet away. "Yo, guys, this little greenie's dating an Octoling!"

Josiah groaned. "Look, we've heard it enough. Now you seem reasonable, could you _please_ help us?"

"Ha, no, I've changed my mind. You and…'her' can go find someone else to help you."

"I-"

"What's this about an Octoling?" asked a boy, walking up behind the girl.

"This guy's dating one," the girl replied.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, must not realize what a nuisance the whole race is."

Two more squids came over and began mocking Josiah and Aileen, surrounding them, laughing and pointing. Soon, a large group had accumulated, everyone laughing at them, making jokes like how terrible an Octoling-Inkling hybrid would be.

"EVERYONE, BREAK IT UP!" Josiah heard a loud voice shout. He glanced around, trying to find the source of the voice. He saw the crowd split slightly, and in walked a blue Inkling boy with brown eyes and tan skin. He walked right up to the girl who started the whole thing and slapped her in the face.

"Oooh," the crowd collectively gasped.

"Kara, just because you think you're better than all Octolings doesn't mean you need to teach them like that!"

"Kara?" Aileen asked, looking the girl back over. That's right, she _did_ recognize her. "Kara!"

Kara looked over and saw Aileen, her hands clenched into fists, and on her face, a look of fury and smugness. "That's right, it's me!"

Kara slowly backed up. "A-Aileen, uh, g-good to see you," she stuttered, backing into the crowd.

"Oh, yeah, real great. You know, I thought I taught you a lesson about how to treat Octolings. Turns out I need to do it again." She attempted to charge at her, but Josiah grabbed her arm.

"Aileen, stop, she isn't worth it."

"Yes she is! She caused me more pain than I care to tell right now!"

"That doesn't mean-"

"Yes it fucking does! Now let me go right now!" She yanked free of Josiah's grip and charged on Kara, tackling her to the ground. Straddling her, Aileen threw punch after punch into her face.

"Aileen, stop!" Josiah cried, running over and trying to pull her off. She whirled around and hissed at him, baring her teeth and holding up a fist in threat. Josiah backed up in surprise, allowing Aileen to return to beating the shit out of Kara.

"You killed her!" Aileen screamed.

"That wasn't me, that was Eva!" Kara replied, shielding her face.

"I don't care, you weren't a big help in the whole ordeal!"

"So...you know her?" the blue boy asked Josiah.

"Who, the Octoling?" he asked, turning towards the boy.

"Yeah."

"She's my girlfriend, haven't seen her like this in...two months?"

"Well, here, let me help you get her off. Even though I don't like Kara that much either, I'm not gonna stand by while she beats her to a pulp."

Josiah nodded. "Here, you get her right arm, I'll get her left."

The boy nodded and walked over to Aileen, crouching down beside her. Josiah followed suit, then gave a nod, holding up his fingers. He counted down from three on them, then upon reaching zero, he and the boy grabbed Aileen's arms and yanked her up off of Kara.

"Let me go!" she screamed, attempting to get free.

"Aileen, stop it now!" Josiah yelled.

"Make me!"

Josiah grunted and slapped her in the face. "Don't make me do it again. That wasn't a hard one, I can slap harder than that."

"I can take it, that was nothing!"

Josiah rolled his eyes. "I'm not hitting you again unless I absolutely need to. Stand. Down. Now."

Aileen struggled for a moment more before giving up. "Good." Josiah let her go and turned his attention to Kara.

Her face had yellow ink smeared on it, and it looked like her nose was slightly deformed. He held a hand out to help her up, and she looked at it with confusion.

"Why?" she asked. "Why would you help me?"

"Because I don't know what Aileen has against you, and I'm a nice person."

The girl did a half-attempt at a shrug and took his hand, wincing while standing up. "Thanks."

"No problem. Now, Aileen, come apologize to Kara."

"I'm not apologizing to that cunt," Aileen spat.

"I don't need her apology anyways," Kara shrugged. "Not the first time this has happened, I really need to learn when to stop."

"Well, good luck with that. Let's go, Aileen. We'll find someone else to show us around."

"Oh, I can show you-"

"We'll find someone else, thanks though. I don't think you and Aileen need to be close together."

Kara nodded. "Thanks again, she and I...have problems...that we really need to work out if we'll ever see each other again."

Josiah laughed. "Yeah, sorry about that. Anyways, we've got stuff to do."

"You say you need help finding your way around?" the boy asked.

"Uh, yeah, that'd be nice."

He smiled. "I'll help you out, mate." He stuck his hand out. "The name's Kevin."

"Josiah," he replied, shaking the hand. "That's Aileen, if she'll come be polite." Aileen shot Kara a glare and stalked over, taking Josiah's hand.

"Uh, thanks for breaking that up," she said.

"No problem, I don't like seeing that stuff happen here. Anyways, you two need a tour, yeah?"

"That'd be great," Josiah said.

"Well, let's start in the middle."

* * *

 **AN:** Fucking...can't fit all that I want to into this chapter. I'll do one more history chapter before progressing the plot further, so...sorry?

Also, holy shit is this late. I've been having a severe, _severe_ case of writer's block, and that certainly doesn't help anything. I think I can get the next one done on time though (two weeks from today), since I don't have any other projects going on right now.

Speaking of other projects, I've got three others going on, nothing on me in them right now, but I'll list them anyways. First is Shared Universe, posted by Justsomesquidiot. Next up would be A War Between Worlds, posted by ZygardeFusion. Finally, there's the SWC One-shot Collection, also by ZygardeFusion. If you're gonna read any of those, do that one, since it'll give you a little taste for other writers on the site.

Anyways, I really need sleep, my life is tiring. Planning a trip, school, RPs, writing, and tinkering with my computer really piles on top of each other. See ya around, I guess.


	16. Chapter 14: History, Part Fin

**Chapter 14: History, Part Fin**

 **Josiah**

 **APN:** Welp, I lied, looks like another Josiah segment. Sheesh, I need some help organizing my shit…

Anyways, no wasting time like normal, so _(*in Mario voice*)_ Here we go!

* * *

"Alright, let me just run you through the intro crash course we always do," Kevin said, clearing his throat. "Sorry with how stupid it sounds, but here we go. Welcome to Inkopolis! This is the Plaza, where all the freshest folk come to chill like krill. Most Inklings here are obsessed with the hottest sport in Inkopolis: INK BATTLES! The crazy-tall building in front of you is Inkopolis Tower." He pointed to the tall, yellow tower in the center of the Plaza. "It's the city's most famous landmark! There's a lobby on the first floor of Inkopolis Tower for the Turf games."

Kevin then turned to the left, pointing at a slew of shops. "This," he continued. "Is Booyah Base, a shopping mall for all your Inkling...and Octoling...needs. You can buy all kinds of fresh gear and weapons to use in battle. But check it: the staff in the shops can be a snobby bunch. They won't serve you if they don't think you're fresh enough."

"That's pretty rude," Aileen said. "We wouldn't be able to buy anything at all!"

Kevin shrugged. "It is what it is. Anyways, continuing onwards. Battle Dojo is on the second floor of that building over there." He pointed to the right at another little complex. "Check it out if you wanna battle your friends 1-on-1 and sharpen your skills." He then motioned to an alleyway, his expression darkening. "You might wanna steer clear of that back alley. Smells a bit fishy…"

"Well, that looks to be it, right?" Josiah asked.

"Yep! Might as well head over to the lobby, get yourself started."

"We were actually hoping to find a place to stay first. Do you know of a place?"

"Gotcha covered, mate. You see that skyscraper over there?" Kevin pointed to a tower off to the right of the Plaza, about a block away. "That's Flounder Heights, they'll have some flats available."

"Flats?" Josiah asked, having never heard that term before. Now that he thought about it, this Kevin guy spoke in a strange accent, too, that sounded...educated.

"You know...a room to stay in?"

"You mean apartment?"

"That's what I said, flat."

Josiah blinked a couple times, then shrugged it off, assuming that's what they were called in Inkopolis. "How much do one of these flats cost per month?"

"Oh, could range depending on what kind you get. They start as low as 500 credits a month, although those are extremely basic."

"Here, Aileen, let me see our money."

She turned around, allowing him to open her backpack and grab the bag of cash they had. He looked through it. "Eh, should be enough. How much is a step up? We need something we can share."

"Ah, a double flat would be 800 a month. So it should have two rooms rather than one, if not, two beds at least. And no worries if you can't pay the rent right away. They take interest, and you can pay it off as you do Turf Wars."

"Thanks man, you were a real help."

"No problem. Cheers, mate." With that, Kevin waved and walked off.

"So...to Flounder Heights?" Aileen said, looking around.

"Seems like it." Josiah smiled and grabbed her hand, leading her off towards the building, located on a road jutting off of the Plaza. "Quite the show you put on back there."

"Yeah, that...I'm sorry about that, I just snapped."

"You know that girl?" He winced as he felt Aileen's hand start crushing his, tightening her hands in anger.

"Yes," she replied sharply.

"Care to talk about it?"

"Not particularly."

Josiah sighed. "Look, you containing this isn't gonna help you. You need to tell others about this stuff."

Her grip loosened slightly. "I...can't. I just can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't bear to relive it…"

"Aileen." Josiah stopped and put his hands on her shoulders, turning her to face him. "You have to tell people your problems."

"What difference will it make? She's dead, and talking about it isn't gonna do anything to bring her back." She sniffed, her eyes beginning to water. "I can't talk about it, Josiah, I simply can't."

"I'm here for you, if you ever want to tell me anything, just come talk to me. I'll listen."

She smiled faintly and wiped her eyes. "Thanks. I'll consider it later. Now, we have a room to go rent."

"That we do." He took her hand again and the two finished their walk, entering the lobby to the building known as Flounder Heights. The lobby itself wasn't too fancy, just a few sofas here and there, the walls painted a dark grey, clashing with the white marble tile floor. Directly opposite the main entrance was a wooden desk, and standing behind said desk were a few employees wearing suits. Aileen tensed slightly at the sight of the fancy uniforms.

"What's wrong?"

"Their clothes…" She shrugged it off. "Never mind, I'm fine."

"Ah, welcome to Flounder Heights!" one of the employees greeted them as they approached the front desk. "How may I be of service today?"

"My girlfriend and I were looking to rent an apartment for us to share."

The man behind the desk typed a few things into his computer, then waited a second. "Stupid old machine," he muttered, complaining about the speed, lightly tapping the bulky monitor. Soon, his face brightened up as the slower PC displayed what he was looking for. "We have a few options for you. First, a few one-room options starting at 500 credits a month. The next step up would be a two-room option, which will be 800 credits."

"We'll do that," Josiah said, stopping him before he could read off the other options.

He nodded and typed a few more things into his computer, waiting as it processed the information. "Your names?"

"Josiah Douglass, and Aileen...uh…Ramos?"

"No, I am _not_ associating myself with that man, if you can even call him that."

"Then what name do you want?"

She thought for a second. Certainly not Ramos, that man had done too much harm to her, she was not keeping his last name. "Marso," she said after a moment.

The man on the other side of the desk typed that into the computer as well. "Ages?"

"14," Josiah replied. "Although I'll be 15 in a few weeks."

"That should be it. Now, I can tell you are new here. Do you have money, or should I put you down for the newcomer interest program?"

"We have money," Aileen replied, allowing Josiah to pull the bag of credits out of her pack. He reached in and pulled out a handful of credits, setting them on the counter. He counted out the equivalent to 800 credits, putting the rest in the pouch, returning it to Aileen's bag.

"Thank you," the man said, taking the credits. He reached behind himself and grabbed a couple keys off of the wall, handing the two one set each. "You'll be in room 522. Just make sure to keep track of those, there is a 10 credit fee if you lose a pair."

"Sounds good," Josiah said, twirling his set on his finger. "Thanks so much!"

"Any time!"

The two walked off to the elevators, heading up to their apartment. "Excited?" Josiah asked, seeing her fidget.

"What kind of question is that? I've been looking forward to this for weeks, and it's finally here. Our own place, where we can do whatever we want, come home whenever we want, go wherever we want, and in Inkopolis of all places!"

Josiah chuckled. "True, that'll be nice. I'm sure you'll get some good friends."

"What about you?"  
"Well, that Kevin guy seems nice, but from my past experiences, I'm not getting to attached to people."

"What about me?"  
Josiah paused for a moment, thinking. "That's different."  
"How so?" Aileen countered. "If you and I are dating, you're more attached to me than you would be any other person. How's that any different? If anything, that's worse."

"I…"

"See my point? Yeah, you're kinda being a bit of a hypocrite right now."

"You're right, I am, but still."  
"Josiah, you need friends in your life. You can't just be alone."  
"But I'm not alone. And if I get friends, when we move away or they move away or if something crazy like that happens again where we get split apart from the inside out and some of us...don't make it...then I'll feel that, and that wave of sadness I've felt before will hit me, and I'll be depressed, and no fun to be around, and harmful to myself and those around me."

Aileen sighed. "Come on, you can't do that to yourself. That's the wrong thing to do. All those things you mentioned? You'll be going through that if you have no friends."  
"You're starting to sound like my mom."

"She and I both have a very good point, whether you realize it or not."

"Look, I'll make that decision for myself, okay?"  
Before Aileen could respond, the elevator doors slid open, and they stepped off. "We can continue this later," he said as he walked up to their room.

"Okay, just...I'm worried for you, okay?"

"I know. Now, enough of that." He inserted the key in the door. "Ready?"  
"Yeah, let's see it!"

With a smile, he threw the door open, revealing a decent sized apartment. The entry room was a combined kitchen/living area with a hallway on the left side of the room. Josiah walked into the hallway, which had three doors: two on the left, one on the right. Opening them revealed the two on the left were bedrooms and the one on the right was a full bathroom, not one of those cramped half-baths.

"This place is amazing!" Aileen exclaimed, sitting down on the couch. "Even though the stuff's kinda dated, I think it'll do the job." She motioned to an old CRT television sitting on TV stand opposite the couch.

"Eh, if we can find a storage place, we can put our own furniture in here and move the old stuff out, replacing it when we move out."

"True." She yawned and glanced at her phone. "Not even late and I'm already tired…"

Josiah glanced at the time. "Really? It's only 5, why not we find somewhere to eat?"

"I dunno, sleep sounds just as good. I just wanna curl up and-" She was cut off by the sound of her stomach rumbling, a low, hollow sound. "On second thought, food sounds nice." She hopped up and stretched.

"Well then, let's see what's around here." Josiah pulled out his phone and began scrolling through some options. "There's a Kelp Burger about a 10 minute walk away, wanna do that?"

"Ew, no, that's too greasy. Something lighter."

"Look, we're on our first night, shouldn't we celebrate with something unhealthy?"

Aileen sighed. "Whatever, I just don't like eating that kind of food."

"I know, but it tastes better than your stupid healthy stuff."

"Keyword 'healthy.'"

"Which makes it taste like cardboard."

"That's objective."

"Oh yeah? Well, let's do this then. You go get something from a healthy restaurant while I grab something from Kelp Burger. Meet back here in 45 minutes, and we'll see which one tastes better. Cool?"

"You're on!"

With that, she bolted from the room, a smug grin on his face. Josiah chuckled and walked out, closing the door behind him. He smiled, realizing how set their lives were. He felt at peace, as if nothing could go wrong...right?

* * *

 **2 Years Later**

* * *

Josiah's eyes flew open. He tried to sit up but instantly collapsed, dazed and extremely light-headed. To the best of his ability, he looked around.

Outside. That's where he was, on the street outside his house. In a pool of...was that ink? Who's ink was it? Nobody has black ink, right? And come to think of it, his right arm felt kinda funny.

He glanced down at his arm and his eyes went wide. "Oh God," he whispered, seeing the wound. His arm, from the elbow down, was simply nonexistent, reduced to a puddle of ink. To make matters worse, it was dripping ink everywhere, causing not only the puddle he laid in but the lightheaded-ness that he felt. Oddly enough, there was no pain, just emptiness. As if he couldn't feel anything anymore...

He suddenly remembered all that happened, how he had left the house at the sound of helicopters in the distance, how Aileen followed him out, how he was shot at from the helicopter, how Aileen was taken by the Octarians. It happened so fast, he realized. Not even a few minutes had past, really, between him exiting the house and him passing out.

Grunting, he placed his left hand on the ground beside him, pushing himself up slowly. He staggered to his house, nearly falling through the front door, crawling up the stairs. There he laid on the floor by his bed, ink seeping into the carpet leaving a large black stain. He threw his functional arm up in the air, fumbling around on the nightstand.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, feeling his phone. He snatched it up and pulled it down, dialing a number.

"Yo, how's it goin' mate?" said a voice in a strange accent.

"Kevin, no time to talk, get here now. Don't let anything stop you, I-" He broke off into a coughing fit.

"You good there? Hello?"

"Just...get...here," Josiah replied, hanging up. He laid his head back on the carpet and was out shortly.

* * *

His world was black. His world was pain. He remembered things from his past he had wished to forget. Those memories haunted him as he lay there, unconscious. How had his life gone so wrong again?. Hadn't life put him through enough already? He had to deal with his friend being hunted down, only for her to be taken away two years later? He thought about these things, wondering where he could've gone wrong.

Maybe he should have kept her closer. When they moved out of the apartment, they each bought their own house, indulged in the riches of living in Inkopolis, participating in the Turf War games. If she had been with him when the attack happened, maybe she still would've been beside him.

Maybe he should've tried harder protecting her. His dad had told him to keep her close and take care of her. He failed. He failed the one thing his dad had told him to do. What kind of a person was he?

Maybe they should've just stayed in the County. That would've completely removed the threat of her getting taken again by the Octarians. Had he just gotten over his problems living there, she would've been kept safe from the dangers of the city.

He failed. What he thought was the right choice was the wrong one. He failed. When told to keep those close to him safe, he let them be taken away again. He failed. He would never return to the County now. He knew his family would be disappointed, see him as a failure, be upset with him. He had no place there anymore, if he even had one to begin with.

* * *

 **AN:** And that wraps it up for the history chapters, whoop! Sorry it took so long to get through those, I wrote more than I initially planned to.

Anyways, back to the normal story arc that I've got going. Thanks for sticking with me through this all, I hope that you see improvement as I progressed through my writing and that it still hooks you.

I apologize in advance, however, because you won't be getting a scheduled update in 2 weeks like normal, being the 3rd of June. The reason for that is because I am taking a trip, and where I'm going won't have WiFi, and I'm not sure how long I'll be able to spend, but we'll see. That's a most likely not on the sculpture/next chapter.

Finally, have a good day! For those of you in school, whoop, we're nearly there (or your school district's unlike ours and is already out)!


	17. Chapter 15: Run

**Chapter 15: Run**

 **Aileen**

* * *

Josiah sighed. "I failed. When it came down to me, I failed to keep Aileen safe. And now look at her, she's rougher than she was two years ago. It's all my fault." He clapped his hands together. "So yeah, that's why you haven't seen from or heard from me in three years. It's been one hell of a time, I'll say."

"Sounds like it," said Eric, still leaning against the wall. "Ya know, I was expectin' some little story that wasn't all that interestin', but you gave me this instead. And I was not disappointed."

"Well, glad to hear that. Now, mom." Josiah turned and looked at his mother, Riley. "I need to take Eric with us. He has skills with bombs that we require, can he come?"

She looked at him with a pained look. "I...that's a really huge risk to take."

"I know."

"And some of you may not...make it…"

"I know."

She sighed. "You need the help. Eric, pack up your stuff, you're goin' with 'em."

"Wait, what?" Eric said, surprised.

"Yeah, go along. I know you'd sneak out if I had said no anyways."

Eric nodded and walked back down the hallway to the bedrooms.

"Son," Elijah, Josiah's father, said. "I trust you'll take care of him, right?"

"Dad, I was able to survive two years there all alone, I'm quite certain I can keep him safe."

Elijah smiled. "Glad you agree."

Shortly, Eric came back into the room. Aileen smiled as she looked around, seeing the whole of Josiah's family once more, possibly for the last time...she shrugged that thought off. They'd make sure nobody was dying.

"That's everythin'," said Eric, setting a hiking pack down on the floor. "Got my bombs and such inside."

"You can leave the bombs," Aileen said. "We've got plenty of them back in the city."

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure."

He shrugged. "Alright, I'll leave the pack here. Anything else I don't need to take?"

Josiah thought for a moment. "Do you have any clothes that will blend in with the city life? No offense, but you'd stick out like a sore thumb, what with your country clothing and red tentacles."

"Don't you already stuck out enough with yer arm?"

"Fair enough. But at least change your tentacle color, nobody in Inkopolis has red tentacles besides the Octarians. And I don't think you want to be looking like them."

Eric shrugged again, then concentrated for a second, his tentacles changing to a light blue color. "This good?"

"Perfect, actually. Blue's really common in the city."

"So...that everything?" Eight said, annoyed. Everyone looked over to her, having forgotten she had been sitting there with Kevin. "I mean, family reunions are cute and all, but we really have to get back."

Josiah sighed. "She has a point. We really should get going."

"Finally, you actually agree with me."

"Not now, Eight." He walked over to Riley. "We'll be back soon, mom. I promise I'll come visit this time."

She smiled sadly and gave him a hug. "I'm holdin' you accountable for that, ya know."

He chuckled. "When have I not kept my word?"

She broke the hug up and gave him a stern look. "Many times."

"Right…"

She laughed. "Just playin' with ya. I believe you, you'll be fine."

Elijah walked over next. "Take good care of them, okay? You're the man here, and I'm trusting you can fulfill your duty."

"Gotcha, dad. No worries here, they're safe with me."

Eight coughed and motioned to his arm. "That says otherwise."

Josiah flipped her off with the arm. "Fuck you."

"Hey, you have a girlfriend, not like I'm even into you to begin with."

He groaned. "Eight, just go wait outside, I don't want to deal with you right now."

"Fine, not like I wanted to be with your stupid country-ass family anyways."

Josiah gave her a look of disbelief. "What was that?"

"You heard me."

He laughed. "You did not just insult my family."

"Josiah, leave it," Riley said sternly.

"Mom, she is more of a pain than you realize, this isn't the worst she's said."

"A bigger reason to just let it slide."

"Okay, whatever." He turned to Eight. "But you need to watch your mouth."

"Make me, dickwad," she spat.

"That's it!" Riley pointed to the door. "Out. All of you."

"Mom-"

"OUT!"

Aileen flinched at her harsh tone. "Mrs. Douglass, please, those two have been at it since they met each other."

"And your point? I will not tolerate their kind of crudeness in this house!"

"Mom, I'm sorry about that," Josiah apologized. "I need to watch myself, and she needs a filter installed. I don't want to end on this kind of note, okay?"

She sighed. "You're right. I overreacted. But you two need to watch what you're saying, okay?"

"Alright."

Eight rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Riley put her hands on her hips. "Listen here, Eight, or whatever nickname you've got. This is my house. When you're in my house, you will listen to me and respect me. Got it?"

"Yes," Eight mumbled.

"Sorry? I couldn't hear you."

"I said 'yes,'" she said, louder this time.

"Good. I don't want to have to throw you out."

"Why, because I don't like your son?"

"No, because you're disrespectful and I will not tolerate it."

"Whatever. Anyways, we really should go, Josiah."

"Hey, get a family of your own and then we can talk about leaving," Josiah snapped.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"You know exactly what I said. You have no respect for family, or people in general."

"I don't remember if I even have a family! And yeah, I don't respect you, but that's because you don't like me to begin with!"

"I don't trust you, that's the problem! It's not that I don't like you, it's simply a trust issue!"

"Oh, because I'm an Octoling? That's your problem?"

"Yes, it is."

"You have no problem with your girlfriend over here, or Marina! Why me? What's the problem with me?"

"I've known Aileen since I was 11, and Marina is known by everybody in the city. I have never seen you before in my entire life."

"You're being such a hypocrite with that! You say that you don't trust Octolings in general and yet there are two that clearly you trust!"

"Eight, I don't have time for this."

"No, you don't want to admit it! You always tell me when we get on this topic, 'Eight, I don't have time for this.'" She quoted him in a high-pitch mimicry voice. "But the reality of the matter is you simply don't like me for no fucking reason!"

"You-"

"No, I'm not finished!" She got up and approached him, getting closer with each word spoken. "You can't get past the fact that I simply am an Octoling, can't you? Obviously I'm on your side, but you still don't trust me! I would've taken you out already were I against you! You need to drop your problems with me this instant so we can work together and get this damn mission done!"

"Will you just listen to me? You could be lying to me right now for all I care!"

Eight growled in frustration. "Do I need to beat some sense into you?"

"You know, I'd like to see you try." He smiled smugly and placed his hands on his hips, staring her down.

"Not worth my time," Eight huffed. "But I'm not joking, we need to get going."

Josiah sighed. "I guess you're right." He turned to Riley and Elijah. "Mom, dad. We need to get going now, head off to get a couple more people together, then go back to the city."

"Take care, son," Elijah said, clapping him on the shoulder with a smile.

"Just come back in one piece," Riley added, smiling sadly.

After their goodbyes, the group headed out to the truck, everybody minus Aileen and Eight getting i to the back. Aileen sat down in the driver's seat, Eight in the passenger's. A moment later, the small window separating the back of the truck from the cab slid open, Josiah poking his head through.

"All ready back here," he declared.

"Alright, sounds good." Aileen started the truck up, driving away down the road. Shortly after getting on the main road, her glasses on the dash vibrated.

"That can't be good," Josiah groaned.

"No, it can't," Aileen agreed, pulling over. She slipped her main glasses off, putting the army pair on. "Oh, fuck," she swore nearly instantly.

"That sounds even worse."

"It is." She took the glasses off, looking him directly in the eyes. "They're after us."

"What do you mean, 'they're after us?'"

"Exactly what I said! Somehow they found out that we were here, and now they're gonna come and get us!"

Josiah rubbed his face. "Okay, so what? We can just leave, right?"

She shook her head. "They know what they're looking for. And they will not hesitate to take whatever measures needed to retrieve what they're after. I worked as an Agent, I know how thorough their searches of areas are. We have to somehow hide, which is nearly as impossible as simply fleeing."

"Where? There's nowhere to hide! They know where my parents live-" He cut himself off, eyes widening. "Oh, shit."

"What?"

"They know where my parents live. If what you're saying is true…"

Without hesitation, Aileen put her usual glasses back on, spun the truck around, and sped back to the house. She slammed on the brakes upon arrival, jumping out of the truck and sprinting up to the house, banging her fist on the door repeatedly. Josiah ran up to meet her right as the door opened.

"Hello-"

"Mrs. Douglass, we need to get you out of here," Aileen cut her off. "No time to explain, come on."

"Wait-"

"Mom, just listen to her. Your guys' lives are in danger, we need to go right now." Josiah grabbed her hand. "You need to trust us, come on! Aileen, get the others." He ran back to the truck, his mom in tow.

Aileen ran into the house, seeing the rest of the family in the living room. "Come on, we need to go right now. No time to get anything, out! All of you!" She pointed to the door.

"What's wrong?" asked Corban, walking up to her.

"No time to explain either, go!" She picked Corban up, turning to the rest. "What are you waiting for, get up off your asses and out the door now!"

Reluctantly, the rest of the family complied. They followed her out, getting into the back of the truck with the rest.

"Aileen, you okay?" Levi asked before getting in.

"No, I'm not okay, do I look like I'm okay?"

"Not really. What's wrong?"

She groaned and rubbed her face. "I don't have time, could you get in?"

"Come on, tell me, you can make time, right?"

"I can't, just get in."

"But-"

"I can tell you on the way, now get in."

"I want to know now!"

"JUST GET IN THE FUCKING TRUCK!" She thrust a finger towards the truck, face red with anger. Levi shrunk back in fear, having never seen Aileen that upset or mad.

"Levi, just get in," Josiah called from inside. He nodded and climbed in, not taking his eyes off of Aileen. Aileen then slammed the door shut and stormed back up to the cab, climbing in the driver's seat once more and driving off.

"What was that outburst all about?" Eight asked, slouched in her chair and feet on the dash. In her hand was a candy bar, from where she got it was better left unanswered.

"I…"

"You've never acted like that." She took a bite.

"Guess I'm just stressed, I dunno."

"Yeah, probably." Eight held the bar out towards her. "Want some?"

Aileen gently pushed it away. "No thanks, I'm good."

"You sure?"

"Yeah...just have a lot on my mind." She slapped a hand on the window, and Josiah slid it open a moment later.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Hey, we...need to talk about things…"

"Like what?"

"Well, first, tell Levi I'm sorry for shouting at him like that."

"You could talk to him right now if you want."

"No, no, I need you first." She sighed. "I need to ask a favor."

Josiah shrugged. "Sure, anything."

"If they find me...I...need you to kill me. Right then and there, no hesitation."

Josiah shrunk back in shock. "Correction: anything but that."

"Come on, Josiah, I'm serious here! What I did in the army, as an Agent, I don't want to relive. Killing and torturing innocent people while fully conscious of it and having nothing to do about it since I was being controlled is the worst thing a person can go through. I can't bear to do it again."

Josiah began shaking his head. "I can't do that, I...you know I've lost somebody I loved once, and what it did to me, I can't relive that."

"You promised!"

"What?"

"You said you could do me a favor!"

"But that was before I knew what it was!"

"Guess you should've asked first, huh?"

"Or maybe you shouldn't have dropped such a huge shit-bomb instead!"

"Oh, so now I'm to blame?"

"Yes! I had no idea your favor would be such a huge thing!"

"Like I said, you shouldn't have said 'anything' if you didn't even know what my favor was!"

"Look, a couple having a little squabble," Eight smirked from her seat.

"Not now, Eight!" they both shouted in unison.

She threw her arms up in defense. "If I may have some input, I think you're overreacting, Josiah."

"Oh, is this just because you don't like me?" he snapped.

"Partially, yes. But the majority of my reasoning is the fact that death's natural, it's gonna happen eventually. That, and life's pain, so you'd be putting her out of her misery."

"I-"

"Oh, and I don't like you," she added with a smug grin.

"Will you just-"

"I don't like her reasoning, but she's right," Aileen said.

Josiah sighed. "Fine. But the only reason I'm saying so is because I know you're not getting caught. We won't let that happen."

"But if I am taken, you'll do it, right?"

"You won't."

"And if I am?"

"You won't!"

"Will you just say yes? Please? For my own sanity, will you just agree to me? I'll go insane if you don't!"

Josiah groaned and ran his hands through his tentacles. "Fine. I'll...do it."

"Thank you."

"Now, another topic. Where exactly do we hide."

"The...facility…"

He started. "Wait, you serious?"

"Yeah…" She shuddered slightly.

"No, we can't. I know what memories it has there for you, I can't do that to you."

"I'll be fine." She positioned her hands on the wheel, pulling off the road onto a dirt track.

"You sure?"

"Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

He eyed her skeptically. "I'll be keeping an eye on you then. And we can find somewhere else if you want."

"This is the only place they can't find us in. I'll be fine, okay? Stop worrying about me, I'm not a child."

"I worry about you because I care."

"I know you care, you're too overprotective."

"Overprotective? Seriously? I don't want you to die and you're calling me overprotective? I don't want you to relive memories and you're calling me overprotective?"

"Yes! I can care for myself, Josiah! I don't need you watching my every move, making sure I'm constantly safe! Will you just please let me off?"

"I want you safe!"

"I don't need that!"

"But I want it!"

"I don't!"

"Why? Why do you not want me to protect you?!"

"Because I can fucking handle myself, okay? I don't need you sticking your head in all the shit I do! So if you don't mind I would really appreciate it if you mind your own damn business!"

Josiah glared at her. "Whatever." With that, he slid the window shut.

Aileen sighed. "Was I too hard on him?"

"Nah," Eight said. "You told him what you were thinking. He deserved that, being all up in your life like that."

"Yeah, but...I could've told him differently, much calmer."

"True." She held the candy bar out again. "You absolutely sure you don't want some?"

"I guess." She broke a small piece of and ate it. "Woah, that's good, what is it?"

She shrugged. "Dunno. Something with peanut butter and chocolate."

"Mm, it's really great."

"Yeah, it-" Eight cut herself off. "What is that?" She pointed out the windshield at a metal door in the side of a hill.

"The facility." She stopped the truck and shut it off, hopping out. Aileen then walked down to the back and slapped the door, it flying open and the group piling out. Josiah gave Aileen a sharp glance before looking away.

"Alright, we're here," Aileen declared. She walked up to the door, Josiah right beside him.

"Look," he said. "I'm sorry for getting mad, just-"

"Save it. We have more pressing subjects." She dusted off a keypad then thought for a moment. She then snapped her fingers and punched in a combination, the door hissing open. "We're in," she said. Aileen then took one step in, then collapsed to the floor.

* * *

 **AN:** Oli otya! That means "hello" in Luganda, the language spoken in certain regions of Uganda which is where I've been for the past two weeks. Pretty cool place, and the reason I couldn't update on the normal schedule since there was no WiFi. Hell, I don't even know what air conditioning is anymore. Or a seatbelt.

Despite my delay, I should be uploading on a normal day again, being the 17th, so yeah. Keep looking for that.

Anyways, EagleByte out! Time to go learn what tap water is again...


	18. Updating Announcement

**Story Updates Announcement**

Hey all, Eagle here, with an announcement about this story.

This may be to some of your disagreement, but I will be halting further production of this story until further notice. However, I do have a very good reason, so please hear me out.

I will be updating all the previous chapters with something new, something redone, something better. At the time of posting (01/07/19), I have already rewritten the prologue and chapter 1, and quite a bit of chapter 2. I won't be uploading these individually, however, as some inconsistancies will arise that I really don't want to have in there. It would also take away a lot of the story. So, that in mind, it will be a while before you get an update. But the good news is that when you get an update, it means that all the chapters have been redone, and that you can go back and reread it for some new information that I didn't put in the first time, and that the story will continue on the bi-weekly update schedule that I have set up.

Also, another thing, I'll be going back and deleting all the older comments, as they may not make any to much sense when it's all updated. I'll also be renaming the story to "Broken City," as the current title just is...well, bad. And it doesn't tie in well with other side-projects I'm working on, so there's that to. That said, if you see a Broken City in your reading history, don't be surprised, that's just this story.

Anyways, sorry for those of you who were anxiously awaiting another chapter (pff, like anybody was like that, be real here Eagle), but this is, in my mind, for the best. And don't think I'm abandoning the project entirely and this is just an excuse. Far from it, actually, I'm pursuing this, anxiously awaiting the updating of the story. I will be going through a big move soon, however, so that will delay some things, but expect within the next few months to have it updated.

Thanks for understanding. Eagle, out!


	19. Yet Another Update

Yet another update (sorry)

I know that I said another update meant that everything was rewritten, and I'm sorry it isn't. I've been going through bouts of depression lately and never really had the urge to write. Now, I'm back in business, and decided rather than updating this story all at once, why not post the chapters in a brand new story, each one posted when I finish it.

Hence why you can now find "Broken City," which is what I wanted this project to be from the very start. This story ends here, but the rewrite will continue. Depending on school and all, I'll set up an update schedule, most likely by the end of September. Until then, stay soarin'

-EagleByte


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